We report an unusual evolution of superconductivity (SC) in the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal PdTe with increasing pressure up to ∼50 GPa. The compressed PdTe exhibits a sudden reversal in the superconducting transition temperature Tc, from an initial decrease with pressure to an increase above a critical pressure Pc≈ 15 GPa, showing a V-shaped feature composed of SC-I and SC-II phases due to a structural phase transition through Pc. Subsequently, the Tc goes into a plateau around 2.5 K when the pressure is higher than ∼32 GPa. In addition, we find the variations of carrier concentrations and mobilities also manifest a similar trend on the pressure response as the Tc, and the normal-state electronic properties change from the electron-dominated single-band model to two-carrier model after the structural phase transition, implying the close correlation between electronic properties and two SC phases. Our findings establish the SC of PdTe is highly tunable under varying pressures.
@article{arxiv.2312.07238,
title = {Pressure-tuned superconductivity in the Dirac semimetal PdTe},
author = {Xiangming Kong and Zhaolong Liu and Xiangqi Liu and Chunqiang Xu and Zhenhai Yu and Jing Wang and Baomin Wang and Xiaofeng Xu and Yanfeng Guo and Rui Zhang and Xiaofan Yang and Shiyan Li},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2312.07238},
year = {2024}
}