Massive suppression of proximity pairing in topological (Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x})_2$Te$_3$ films on niobium

Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 236402 (2020) Interfacing bulk conducting topological Bi$_2$Se$_3$ films with s-wave superconductors initiates strong superconducting order in the nontrivial surface states. However, bulk insulating topological (Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x})_2$Te$_3$ films on bulk Nb instead exhibit a gia...

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Main Authors Hlevyack, Joseph A, Najafzadeh, Sahand, Lin, Meng-Kai, Hashimoto, Takahiro, Nagashima, Tsubaki, Tsuzuki, Akihiro, Fukushima, Akiko, Bareille, Cédric, Bai, Yang, Chen, Peng, Liu, Ro-Ya, Li, Yao, Flötotto, David, Avila, José, Eckstein, James N, Shin, Shik, Okazaki, Kozo, Chiang, T. -C
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 02.06.2020
Subjects
Physics - Materials Science
Physics - Superconductivity
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Summary:Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 236402 (2020) Interfacing bulk conducting topological Bi$_2$Se$_3$ films with s-wave superconductors initiates strong superconducting order in the nontrivial surface states. However, bulk insulating topological (Bi$_{1-x}$Sb$_{x})_2$Te$_3$ films on bulk Nb instead exhibit a giant attenuation of surface superconductivity, even for films only two-layers thick. This massive suppression of proximity pairing is evidenced by ultrahigh-resolution band mappings and by contrasting quantified superconducting gaps with those of heavily n-doped topological Bi$_2$Se$_3$/Nb. The results underscore the limitations of using superconducting proximity effects to realize topological superconductivity in nearly intrinsic systems.
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2006.01716