Creation, stabilization, and study at ambient pressure of pressure-induced superconductivity in Bi$_{0.5}$Sb$_{1.5}$Te$_3$

Abstract

In light of breakthroughs in superconductivity under high pressure, and considering that record critical temperatures (T$_c$s) across various systems have been achieved under high pressure, the primary challenge for higher Tc should no longer solely be to increase T$_c$ under extreme conditions but also to reduce, or ideally eliminate, the need for applied pressure in retaining pressure-induced or -enhanced superconductivity. The topological semiconductor Bi$_{0.5}$Sb$_{1.5}$Te$_3$ (BST) was chosen to demonstrate our approach to addressing this challenge and exploring its intriguing physics. Under pressures up to ~ 50 GPa, three superconducting phases (BST-I, -II, and -III) were observed. A superconducting phase in BST-I appears at ~ 4 GPa, without a structural transition, suggesting the possible topological nature of this phase. Using the pressure-quench protocol (PQP) recently developed by us, we successfully retained this pressure-induced phase at ambient pressure and revealed the bulk nature of the state. Significantly, this demonstrates recovery of a pressure-quenched sample from a diamond anvil cell at room temperature with the pressure-induced phase retained at ambient pressure. Other superconducting phases were retained in BST-II and -III at ambient pressure and subjected to thermal and temporal stability testing. Superconductivity was also found in BST with T$_c$ up to 10.2 K, the record for this compound series. While PQP maintains superconducting phases in BST at ambient pressure, both depressurization and PQP enhance its T$_c$, possibly due to microstructures formed during these processes, offering an added avenue to raise T$_c$. These findings are supported by our density-functional theory calculations.