Enhanced superconductivity at the interface of W/Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ point contact

TL;DR

This study reports enhanced superconductivity at the W/Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ interface, showing increased conductance and superconducting features up to 6.2 K, influenced by tip pressure and anisotropic electronic properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates significantly increased conductance enhancement and superconducting features at the interface, revealing pressure effects and anisotropic electronic behavior in Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$.

Findings

Conductance enhancement exceeds 20%, larger than previous reports.

Superconducting features persist up to 6.2 K, higher than bulk.

Logarithmic background fits Altshuler-Aronov theory, indicating 2D electron system.

Abstract

Differential resistance measurements are conducted for point contacts (PCs) between tungsten tip approaching along the $c$ axis direction and the $ab$ plane of Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ single crystal. Three key features are found. Firstly, within 0.2 mV there is a dome like conductance enhancement due to Andreev reflection at the normal-superconducting interface. By pushing the W tip further, the conductance enhancement increases from 3\% to more than 20\%, much larger than that was previously reported, probably due to the pressure exerted by the tip. Secondly, there are also superconducting like features at bias higher than 0.2 mV which persists up to 6.2 K, resembling the enhanced superconductivity under uniaxial pressure for bulk Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$ crystals but more pronounced here. Third, the logarithmic background can be fitted with the Altshuler-Aronov theory of tunneling into quasi two dimensional electron system, consistent with the highly anisotropic electronic system in Sr$_{2}$RuO$_{4}$.