Enhanced Superconductivity and Upper Critical Field in Ta-Doped Weyl Semimetal Td -MoTe2

Adv Mater. 2023 May;35(19):e2207841. doi: 10.1002/adma.202207841. Epub 2023 Mar 27.

Abstract

2D transition metal dichalcogenides are promising platforms for next-generation electronics and spintronics. The layered Weyl semimetal (W,Mo)Te2 series features structural phase transition, nonsaturated magnetoresistance, superconductivity, and exotic topological physics. However, the superconducting critical temperature of the bulk (W,Mo)Te2 remains ultralow without applying a high pressure. Here, the significantly enhanced superconductivity is observed with a transition temperature as large as about 7.5 K in bulk Mo1- x Tax Te2 single crystals upon Ta doping (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.22), which is attributed to an enrichment of density of states at the Fermi level. In addition, an enhanced perpendicular upper critical field of 14.5 T exceeding the Pauli limit is also observed in Td -phase Mo1- x Tax Te2 (x = 0.08), indicating the possible emergence of unconventional mixed singlet-triplet superconductivity owing to the inversion symmetry breaking. This work provides a new pathway for exploring the exotic superconductivity and topological physics in transition metal dichalcogenides.

Keywords: MoTe 2; phase transition; superconductivity; topological Weyl semimetal; upper critical field.