Topological superconductivity in a topological insulator

TL;DR

This study provides experimental evidence for topological superconductivity in a topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{2.7}$Se$_{0.3}$ under high pressure, revealing phases with and without topological surface states and their distinct superconducting properties.

Contribution

It systematically investigates high-pressure effects on Bi$_{2}$Te$_{2.7}$Se$_{0.3}$, demonstrating the coexistence of topological surface states with superconductivity and identifying new phases with potential topological superconductivity.

Findings

Topological surface state persists in the initial phase under pressure.

Superconductivity coexists with topological surface state after electronic transition.

Different critical exponents observed for superconducting phases with and without topological states.

Abstract

Topological superconductivity is an exotic quantum phenomenon with coupled nontrivial topological order and superconductivity together. A direct idea for producing topological superconductors is to create superconductivity based on the well recognized topological insulators. The topological insulating states in highly efficient thermoelectric materials Bi$_2$Te$_3$ and Bi$_2$Se$_3$ and their alloy Bi$_{2}$Te$_{3-x}$Se$_{x}$ have been established from angle-resolved photoemission and transport experiments. Superconductivity was also observed based on these popular topological insulators by the application of pressure chemical dopant and heterostructures. However, the experiments mainly focusing on Bi$_{2}$Se$_3$ doped by metals have not provided the consistent evidence to support the topological superconductivity. Here we carry out a systematic high-pressure study on a topological insulator Bi$_{2}$Te$_{2.7}$Se$_{0.3}$ to provide the convincing evidence for the expected topological superconductivity. Four phases with different structures are found upon compression. The topological surface state is identified in the entire initial phase, while superconductivity is found to coexist with such a state of the compressed material after its passing the electronic topological transition, followed by three other superconducting phases without topological character. For these superconducting phases, we observe that the upper critical field follows with the temperature in the critical exponent ${2/3}$ for the first one with the topological surface state and $1$ for the left. These observations support the realization of the topological superconductivity in the initial phase according to the theoretically proposed critical field measure. This work also points out a big pool and new direction for finding topological superconductors from topological thermoelectric materials.