Pressure-driven superconductivity in the topological insulator
Phys. Rev. B 112, 014515 – Published 22 July, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6gs6-p872
Abstract
The van der Waals pseudobinary chalcogenides (; ; ) have recently been reported to host a vast landscape of topological phases of matter, including the quantum anomalous Hall state and topological axion state with a quantized magnetoelectric effect. A subgroup in this series, such as and , can be driven to a superconducting state by applying physical pressure, making them viable candidates to realize so-called topological superconductivity. However, the role of magnetic fluctuations in this pressure-induced superconductivity remains unclear. Here, we report pressure-induced superconductivity in nonmagnetic , accompanied by the possible structural transitions evidenced from high-pressure Hall effect measurements, Raman scattering, and first-principles calculations. In comparison with other members in this family, we find the superconducting transition temperature of the nonmagnetic subgroup is significantly higher than their magnetic homologs, possibly hinting at the adversary role played by the magnetic fluctuations in the formation of superconductivity, at least in this pseudobinary chalcogenide family.