We report the characterization of layered, 2H-type CuxTaS2, for x between 0 and 0.12. The charge density wave (CDW), at 70 K for TaS2, is destabilized with Cu doping. The sub-1K superconducting transition in undoped 2H-TaS2 jumps quickly to 2.5 K at low x, increases to 4.5 K at the optimal composition Cu0.04TaS2, and then decreases at higher x. The electronic contribution to the specific heat, first increasing and then decreasing as a function of Cu content, is 12 mJ mol-1 K-2 at Cu0.04TaS2. Electron diffraction studies show that the CDW remains present at the optimal superconducting composition, but with both a changed q vector and decreased coherence length. We present an electronic phase diagram for the system.
@article{arxiv.0808.2147,
title = {Tuning the Charge Density Wave and Superconductivity in CuxTaS2},
author = {K. E. Wagner and E. Morosan and Y. S. Hor and J. Tao and Y. Zhu and T. Sanders and T. M. McQueen and H. W. Zandbergen and A. J. Williams and D. V. West and R. J. Cava},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0808.2147},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 9 figures. To be published in Physical Review B