Origin of superconductivity in the Weyl semimetal $\mathrm{WT}{\mathrm{e}}_{2}$ under pressure

Origin of superconductivity in the Weyl semimetal $WT e_{2}$ under pressure

Pengchao Lu, Joon-Seok Kim, Jing Yang, Hao Gao, Juefei Wu, Dexi Shao, Bin Li, Dawei Zhou, Jian Sun, Deji Akinwande, Dingyu Xing, and Jung-Fu Lin

Phys. Rev. B 94, 224512 – Published 19 December 2016

Abstract

The structure and superconductivity of $WT e_{2}$ under pressure are investigated using ab initio calculations combined with high-pressure synchrotron x-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. We find that the emergence of superconductivity in $WT e_{2}$ under pressure can be attributed to the phase transition from ambient $T_{d}$ phase to the monoclinic $1 T$ ′ structure phase at around 4–5 GPa, which is associated with a sliding of the $WT e_{2}$ layers, resulting in a critical point in the changes of Te-Te interlayer distance. This phase transition introduces an inversion center and eliminates the topological Weyl fermions in the $T_{d}$ structure. Electron-phonon coupling calculations predict a similar $T_{c}$ as the reported value, implying that $WT e_{2}$ might belong to conventional normal Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductors.

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Received 13 April 2016
Revised 10 September 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.224512

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Crystal structure Pressure effects Semimetals Superconducting phase transition

2-dimensional systems Crystal structures Superconductivity Weyl semimetal

Density functional theory Raman spectroscopy X-ray powder diffraction

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Pengchao Lu¹, Joon-Seok Kim², Jing Yang³, Hao Gao¹, Juefei Wu¹, Dexi Shao¹, Bin Li⁴, Dawei Zhou^1,5, Jian Sun^1,*, Deji Akinwande^2,6, Dingyu Xing¹, and Jung-Fu Lin^3,6,7,†

¹National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
²Microelectronics Research Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA
³Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
⁴College of Science, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, People's Republic of China
⁵College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang 473061, People's Republic of China
⁶Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
⁷Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), Shanghai 201203, People's Republic of China

^*Corresponding author: jiansun@nju.edu.cn
^†Corresponding author: afu@jsg.utexas.edu

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Vol. 94, Iss. 22 — 1 December 2016

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Origin of superconductivity in the Weyl semimetal $WT e_{2}$ under pressure

Pengchao Lu, Joon-Seok Kim, Jing Yang, Hao Gao, Juefei Wu, Dexi Shao, Bin Li, Dawei Zhou, Jian Sun, Deji Akinwande, Dingyu Xing, and Jung-Fu Lin

Phys. Rev. B 94, 224512 – Published 19 December 2016

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Physical Review B

covering condensed matter and materials physics

Origin of superconductivity in the Weyl semimetal WTe2 under pressure

Pengchao Lu, Joon-Seok Kim, Jing Yang, Hao Gao, Juefei Wu, Dexi Shao, Bin Li, Dawei Zhou, Jian Sun, Deji Akinwande, Dingyu Xing, and Jung-Fu Lin

Phys. Rev. B 94, 224512 – Published 19 December 2016

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Origin of superconductivity in the Weyl semimetal $WT e_{2}$ under pressure