Rotational Symmetry Breaking in a Trigonal Superconductor Nb-doped Bi[subscript 2]Se[subscript 3]
Name
PhysRevX.7.011009.pdf
Size
360.26 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
fd8356abe487ecb79450fecac51a113a
Author(s)
Asaba, Tomoya
Lawson, B. J.
Tinsman, Colin
Chen, Lu
Corbae, Paul
Li, Gang
Qiu, Y.
Hor, Y. S.
Li, Lu
Fu, Liang
Alternative Title
Rotational Symmetry Breaking in a Trigonal Superconductor Nb-doped Bi2Se3
Date Issued
January 2017
Journal
Physical Review X
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Asaba, Tomoya et al. “Rotational Symmetry Breaking in a Trigonal Superconductor Nb-Doped Bi 2 Se 3.” Physical Review X 7.1 (2017): n. pag. © 2017 American Physical Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The search for unconventional superconductivity has been focused on materials with strong spin-orbit coupling and unique crystal lattices. Doped bismuth selenide (Bi[subscript 2]Se[subscript 3]) is a strong candidate, given the topological insulator nature of the parent compound and its triangular lattice. The coupling between the physical properties in the superconducting state and its underlying crystal symmetry is a crucial test for unconventional superconductivity. In this paper, we report direct evidence that the superconducting magnetic response couples strongly to the underlying trigonal crystal symmetry in the recently discovered superconductor with trigonal crystal structure, niobium (Nb)-doped Bi[subscript 2]Se[subscript 3]. As a result, the in-plane magnetic torque signal vanishes every 60°. More importantly, the superconducting hysteresis loop amplitude is enhanced along one preferred direction, spontaneously breaking the rotational symmetry. This observation indicates the presence of nematic order in the superconducting ground state of Nb-doped Bi[subscript 2]Se[subscript 3].
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.7.011009
