Visualization of Topological Boundary Modes Manifesting Topological Nodal-Point Superconductivity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates topological nodal superconductivity in a layered material, revealing Majorana edge modes through experimental and theoretical analysis, advancing potential quantum computing applications.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental evidence of intrinsic topological nodal superconductivity in a layered material, supported by a theoretical model of a Weyl-like superconducting state.

Findings

Detection of residual density of states within the superconducting gap.

Imaging of gapless Majorana edge modes along boundaries.

Observation of zero-bias conductance peaks in vortex cores.

Abstract

The extension of the topological classification of band insulators to topological semimetals gave way to the topology classes of Dirac, Weyl, and nodal line semimetals with their unique Fermi arc and drum head boundary modes. Similarly, there are several suggestions to employ the classification of topological superconductors for topological nodal superconductors with Majorana boundary modes. Here, we show that the surface 1H termination of the transition metal dichalcogenide compound 4Hb-TaS$_2$, in which 1T-TaS$_2$ and 1H-TaS$_2$ layers are interleaved, has the phenomenology of a topological nodal point superconductor. We find in scanning tunneling spectroscopy a residual density of states within the superconducting gap. An exponentially decaying bound mode is imaged within the superconducting gap along the boundaries of the exposed 1H layer characteristic of a gapless Majorana edge mode. The anisotropic nature of the localization length of the edge mode aims towards topological nodal superconductivity. A zero-bias conductance peak is further imaged within fairly isotropic vortex cores. All our observations are accommodated by a theoretical model of a two-dimensional nodal Weyl-like superconducting state, which ensues from inter-orbital Cooper pairing. The observation of an intrinsic topological nodal superconductivity in a layered material will pave the way for further studies of Majorana edge modes and its applications in quantum information processing.