Spectroscopic evidence of high temperature superconductivity in VSe2

Abstract

High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission experiments reveal subtle modifications of the surface electronic structure of VSe2. Most remarkably, we show that superconductivity can be induced in VSe2 by the right selection of substrate and growth parameters. Evidence for the superconducting state comes from the simultaneous detection of spectral kink, quasiparticle peak, Fermi gap, and their evolution with the temperature. The observation of Bogoliubov-like back-bending bands at low temperatures, signaling electron-hole pairing, further supports the presence of superconductivity in this system. The photoemission experiment also provides evidence for a formation of a pseudogap state at high temperatures, characterized by the progressive quenching of the quasiparticle peak feature coexisting with a persistent gap at the Fermi level, a behavior reminiscent of high-Tc superconductors. We attributed the origin of superconductivity in these VSe2 films to a modified Fermi surface combined with the formation of van Hove singularity points with a binding energy corresponding to the chemical potential of the system. Although Tc cannot be accurately determined from photoemission data, observations based on the survival temperature of the quasiparticle peak suggest that Tc could be as high as 100 ? 5 K and substantially higher than previous reports for any transition metal dichalcogenides.