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Superconductivity Induced by High Pressure in Weyl Semimetal TaP

Superconductivity 2018-01-01 v1

Abstract

Weyl semimetal defines a material with three dimensional Dirac cones which appear in pair due to the breaking of spatial inversion or time reversal symmetry. Superconductivity is the state of quantum condensation of paired electrons. Turning a Weyl semimetal into superconducting state is very important in having some unprecedented discoveries. In this work, by doing resistive measurements on a recently recognized Weyl semimetal TaP under pressure up to about 100 GPa, we observe superconductivity at about 70 GPa. The superconductivity retains when the pressure is released. The systematic evolutions of resistivity and magnetoresistance with pressure are well interpreted by the relative shift between the chemical potential and paired Weyl points. Calculations based on the density functional theory also illustrate the structure transition at about 70GPa, the phase at higher pressure may host superconductivity. Our discovery of superconductivity in TaP by pressure will stimulate further study on superconductivity in Weyl semimetals.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1611.02548,
  title  = {Superconductivity Induced by High Pressure in Weyl Semimetal TaP},
  author = {Yufeng Li and Yonghui Zhou and Zhaopeng Guo and Xuliang Chen and Pengchao Lu and Xuefei Wang and Chao An and Ying Zhou and Jie Xing and Guan Du and Xiyu Zhu and Huan Yang and Jian Sun and Zhaorong Yang and Yuheng Zhang and Hai-Hu Wen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.02548},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

27 Pages 8 Figures (including Supplementary Information)