The transition metal dichalcogenide PdTe2 was recently shown to be a unique system where a type II Dirac semimetallic phase and a superconducting phase co-exist. This observation has led to wide speculation on the possibility of the emergence of an unconventional topological superconducting phase in PdTe2. Here, through direct measurement of the superconducting energy gap by scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), and temperature and magnetic field evolution of the same, we show that the superconducting phase in PdTe2 is conventional in nature. The superconducting energy gap is measured to be 326 μeV at 0.38 K and it follows a temperature dependence that is well described within the framework of Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer's (BCS) theory of conventional superconductivity. This is surprising because our quantum oscillation measurements confirm that at least one of the bands participating in transport has topologically non-trivial character.
@article{arxiv.1712.03749,
title = {Conventional Superconductivity in Type II Dirac Semimetal PdTe$_2$},
author = {Shekhar Das and Amit and Anshu Sirohi and Lalit Yadav and Sirshendu Gayen and Yogesh Singh and Goutam Sheet},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.03749},
year = {2018}
}