SCIENCE SPIN-OFFS

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Universal superconductivity phase diagram for pressurized tetradymite topological insulators

Shu Cai, S. K. Kushwaha, Jing Guo, Vladimir A. Sidorov, Congcong Le, Yazhou Zhou, Honghong Wang, Gongchang Lin, Xiaodong Li, Yanchuan Li, Ke Yang, Aiguo Li, Qi Wu, Jiangping Hu, Robert J Cava, Liling Sun

(Submitted on 30 Aug 2018)

We show that two different superconducting phases exist at high pressures in the optimized tetradymite topological insulators Bi2Te2Se (BTS) and Bi1.1Sb0.9Te2S (BSTS). The superconducting phases emerge at structural phase transitions, the first at 8.4 GPa for BTS and 12.4 GPa for BSTS, and the second at 13.6 GPa for BTS and 20.4 GPa, for BSTS. Electronic structure calculations show that these phases do not have topological character. Comparison of our results with prior work on Bi2Se3, Bi2Te3 and (Bi,Sb)2(Se,Te)3 allows us to uncover a universal phase diagram for pressure-induced superconductivity in tetradymites, providing a basis for understanding the relationships between topological behavior, crystal structure, and superconductivity for these materials



https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.10295