Granular Ta-Te nanowire superconductivity violating the Pauli limit

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a 1D granular Ta-Te nanowire superconductor with a critical field exceeding the Pauli limit, achieved under high pressure, offering new insights into high-field superconductivity in nanostructures.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel 1D granular Ta-Te nanowire superconductor with record-high critical magnetic field surpassing the Pauli limit, expanding understanding of superconductivity in nanostructures.

Findings

Superconductivity observed at Tc of 5.1 K under high pressure.

Critical magnetic field ({b5}0Hc2(0)) reaches 16 T, twice the Pauli limit.

First report of exceeding Pauli limit in 1D superconductors.

Abstract

Strategies to achieve higher upper-critical-field superconductors ({\mu}0Hc2(0)) are of great interest for both fundamental science and practical applications. While reducing the thickness of two-dimensional (2D) materials to a few layers significantly enhances {\mu}0Hc2(0) with accompanied potential unconventional pairing mechanisms, further dimensional reduction to 1D compounds rarely exceeds the expected Pauli limit. Here, we report the discovery of a 1D granular Ta-Te nanowire that becomes superconducting under high pressure, with a maximum critical temperature (Tc) of 5.1 K. Remarkably, the {\mu}0Hc2(0) reaches 16 T, which is twice the Pauli limit, setting a record of {\mu}0Hc2 (0) in all the reported 1D superconductors. Our work demonstrates that the Ta-Te nanowire not only is a potential candidate for applications in high magnetic fields, but also provides an ideal platform for further investigations of the mechanisms between nanowires and large {\mu}0Hc2(0).