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arXiv · 1808.08500

Supercondutivity in SnSb with natural superlattice structure

Bin Liu·Jifeng Wu·Yanwei Cui·Hangdong Wang·Yi Liu·Zhicheng Wang·Zhi Ren·Guanghan Cao
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Abstract

We report the results of electrical resistivity, magnetic and thermodynamic measurements on polycrystalline SnSb, whose structure consists of stacks of Sb bilayers and Sn4Sb3 septuple layers along the c-axis. The material is found to be a weakly coupled, fully gapped, type-II superconductor with a bulk Tc of 1.50 K, while showing a zero resistivity transition at a significantly higher temperature of 2.48 K. The Sommerfeld coefficient and upper critical field, obtained from specific heat measurements, are 2.29 mJ/mol K and 520 Oe, respectively. Compositional inhomogeneity and strain effect at the grain boundaries are proposed as possible origins for the difference in resistive and bulk superconducting transitions.In addition, a comparison with the rock-salt structure SnAs superconductor is presented. Our results provide the first clear evidence of bulk superconductivity in a natural superlattice derived from a topological semimetal.

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Bin Liu, Jifeng Wu, Yanwei Cui, Hangdong Wang, Yi Liu, Zhicheng Wang, Zhi Ren, Guanghan Cao. 2018-08-26. Supercondutivity in SnSb with natural superlattice structure. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6668/aae6fe

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