Interface-Induced Superconductivity in Magnetic Topological Insulators

Published

February 9, 2024

Author(s)

Hemian Yi, Yi-Fan Zhao, Ying-Ting Chan, Jiaqi Cai, Ruobing Mei, Xianxin Wu, Zi-Jie Yan, Ling-Jie Zhou, Ruoxi Zhang, Zihao Wang, Stephen Paolini, Run Xiao, Ke Wang, Anthoney Richardella, John Singleton, Laurel Winter, Thomas Prokscha, Zaher Salman, Andreas Suter, Purnima Balakrishnan, Alexander Grutter, Moses Chan, Nitin Samarth, Xiaodong Xu, Weida Wu, Chao-Xing Liu, Cui-Zu Chang

Abstract

The interface between two different materials can show unexpected quantum phenomena. In this study, we used molecular beam epitaxy to synthesize heterostructures formed by stacking together two magnetic materials, a ferromagnetic topological insulator (TI) and an antiferromagnetic iron chalcogenide (FeTe). We observed emergent interface-induced superconductivity in these heterostructures and demonstrated the co-occurrence of superconductivity, ferromagnetism, and topological band structure in the magnetic TI layer—the three essential ingredients of chiral topological superconductivity (TSC). The unusual coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity is accompanied by a high upper critical magnetic field that exceeds the Pauli paramagnetic limit for conventional superconductors at low temperatures. These magnetic TI/FeTe heterostructures with robust superconductivity and atomically sharp interfaces provide an ideal wafer-scale platform for the exploration of chiral TSC and Majorana physics.

Citation

Science

Volume

383

Issue

6683

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk1270

Local Download

Keywords

Topology, Superconductivity, Topological Superconductor, Magnetism

Citation

Yi, H. , Zhao, Y. , Chan, Y. , Cai, J. , Mei, R. , Wu, X. , Yan, Z. , Zhou, L. , Zhang, R. , Wang, Z. , Paolini, S. , Xiao, R. , Wang, K. , Richardella, A. , Singleton, J. , Winter, L. , Prokscha, T. , Salman, Z. , Suter, A. , Balakrishnan, P. , Grutter, A. , Chan, M. , Samarth, N. , Xu, X. , Wu, W. , Liu, C. and Chang, C. (2024), Interface-Induced Superconductivity in Magnetic Topological Insulators, Science, [online], https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk1270, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=956459 (Accessed October 9, 2025)