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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Superconducting pairing symmetry in MoTe2

M. M. Piva1,*, L. O. Kutelak1,2, R. Borth1, Y. Liu3,†, C. Petrovic3, R. D. dos Reis2, and M. Nicklas1,‡

  • 1Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Nöthnitzer Straße 40, D-01187 Dresden, Germany
  • 2Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), Campinas, 13083-970 Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • 3Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA

  • *Mario.Piva@cpfs.mpg.de
  • †Present address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
  • ‡Michael.Nicklas@cpfs.mpg.de
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Phys. Rev. Materials 7, L111801 – Published 16 November, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.7.L111801

Abstract

Topological superconductors have long been sought for their potential use in quantum computing. The type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2 is an obvious candidate, exhibiting a superconducting state below 500 mK at ambient pressure, but the question remains whether the pairing is conventional s++ or topological s+−. The application of external pressure favors the superconducting state in MoTe2 and suppresses the structural transition from 1T′ to Td. The competition between the two structures leads to a mixed phase that strongly enhances the disorder present in the system, remarkably without affecting the superconducting transition temperature, in contrast to the expectation of s+− pairing superconductivity. Our thorough analysis of the electrical and Hall resistivities as a function of pressure yields the most accurate temperature-pressure phase diagram available to date for MoTe2 and a detailed view of the relationship between disorder and superconductivity, supporting a conventional s++ pairing symmetry.

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Phys. Rev. Materials 7, L111801– Published 16 November, 2023
  • Received 25 April 2023
  • Accepted 31 October 2023
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Open access publication funded by the Max Planck Society.

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