Superconductivity in the Ru-Doped CuIr2Te4 Telluride Chalcogenide

Abstract

Here we report the effect of structural and superconductivity properties on Ru doped CuIr2Te4 telluride chalcogenide. XRD results suggest that the CuIr2-xRuxTe4 maintain the disordered trigonal structure with space group P3m1 (No. 164) for x less than 0.3. The lattice constants, a and c, both decrease with increasing Ru content. Temperature-dependent resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific-heat measurements are performed to characterize the superconducting properties systematically. Our results suggest that the optimal doping level for superconductivity in CuIr2-xRuxTe4 is x = 0.05, where Tc is 2.79 K with the Sommerfeld constant gamma of 11.52 mJ mol-1 K-2 and the specific-heat anomaly at the superconducting transition, is approximately 1.51, which is higher than the BCS value of 1.43, indicating CuIr1.95Ru0.05Te4 is a strongly electron-phonon coupled superconductor. The values of lower critical filed and upper critical field calculated from isothermal magnetization and magneto-transport measurements are 0.98 KOe and 2.47 KOe respectively, signifying that the compound is clearly a type-II superconductor. Finally, a dome-like shape superconducting Tcs vs. x content phase diagram is established, where the charge density wave disappears at x = 0.03 while superconducting transition temperature (Tc) rises until it reaches its peak at x = 0.05, then, with decreasing when x reaches 0.3. This feature of the competition between CDW and the superconductivity could be caused by tuning the Fermi surface and density of states with Ru chemical doping.