Tip induced superconductivity at mesoscopic point contacts on topological semimetals
Leena Aggarwal, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali
I will present the observation of a new phase of matter, tip-induced superconductivity (TISC), that emerges only under mesoscopic metallic point contacts on topologically non-trivial semimetals like a 3-D Dirac semimetal Cd3As2, and a Weyl semimetal, TaAs. From theoretical considerations, it is believed that such semimetals exist near topological phase boundaries. Therefore, we believe that at mesoscopic point contacts, the new TISC phase emerges through a topological phase transition which is facilitated by the perturbation of metallic tips forming the point contacts.
References:
[1] L. Aggarwal, A. Gaurav, G. S. Thakur, Z. Haque, A. K. Ganguli & G. Sheet, Nature Materials 15, 32 (2016).
[2] L. Aggarwal, S. Gayen, S. Das, R. Kumar, V. Sϋß, C. Shekhar, C. Felser & G. Sheet, Nature Communications, 8, 13974 (2017).