Pressure-driven dome-shaped superconductivity and electronic structural evolution in tungsten ditelluride

TL;DR

This study demonstrates pressure-induced dome-shaped superconductivity in tungsten ditelluride, linked to electronic structural changes and density of states variations, revealing new insights into transition metal dichalcogenide superconductivity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed investigation of pressure-driven superconductivity and electronic evolution in tungsten ditelluride, combining experimental and theoretical insights.

Findings

Superconductivity appears sharply at 2.5 GPa and peaks at 7 K around 16.8 GPa.

Superconducting Tc exhibits a dome-shaped dependence on pressure.

Electronic structure changes correlate with superconducting behavior under pressure.

Abstract

Tungsten ditelluride has attracted intense research interest due to the recent discovery of its large unsaturated magnetoresistance up to 60 Tesla. Motivated by the presence of a small, sensitive Fermi surface of 5d electronic orbitals, we boost the electronic properties by applying a high pressure, and introduce superconductivity successfully. Superconductivity sharply appears at a pressure of 2.5 GPa, rapidly reaching a maximum critical temperature (Tc) of 7 K at around 16.8 GPa, followed by a monotonic decrease in Tc with increasing pressure, thereby exhibiting the typical dome-shaped superconducting phase. From theoretical calculations, we interpret the low-pressure region of the superconducting dome to an enrichment of the density of states at the Fermi level and attribute the high-pressure decrease in Tc to possible structural instability. Thus, Tungsten ditelluride may provide a new platform for our understanding of superconductivity phenomena in transition metal dichalcogenides.