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arXiv · 2303.05041

Magnetic field filtering of the hinge supercurrent in unconventional metal NiTe$_2$-based Josephson junctions

Abstract

Topological materials with boundary (surface/edge/hinge) states have attracted tremendous research interest. Besides, unconventional (obstructed atomic) materials have recently drawn lots of attention owing to their obstructed boundary states. Experimentally, Josephson junctions (JJs) constructed on materials with boundary states produce the peculiar boundary supercurrent, which was utilized as a powerful diagnostic approach. Here, we report the observations of conspicuous hinge supercurrent in NiTe$_2$-based JJs. Particularly, applying an in-plane magnetic field along the Josephson current could rapidly suppress the bulk supercurrent and retain the nearly pure hinge supercurrent, namely the magnetic field filtering of supercurrent. Further systematic comparative analysis and theoretical calculations demonstrate the existence of unconventional nature and obstructed hinge states in NiTe$_2$. Our results revealed the unique hinge states in unconventional metal NiTe$_2$, and demonstrated in-plane magnetic field as an efficient method to filter out the futile bulk contributions and thereby to highlight the hinge states hidden in topological/unconventional materials.

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Tian Le, Ruihan Zhang, Changcun Li, Ruiyang Jiang, Haohao Sheng, Linfeng Tu, Xuewei Cao, Zhaozheng Lyu, Jie Shen, Guangtong Liu, Fucai Liu, Zhijun Wang, Li Lu, Fanming Qu. 2023-03-09. Magnetic field filtering of the hinge supercurrent in unconventional metal NiTe$_2$-based Josephson junctions. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47103-z

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