Superconductivity in a Layered Ta₄Pd₃Te₁₆ with PdTe₂ Chains

Abstract

Superconductivity in low-dimensional compounds has long attracted much interest. Here we report superconductivity in a low-dimensional ternary telluride Ta4Pd3Te16 in which the repeating layers contain edge-sharing octahedrally-coordinated PdTe2 chains along the crystallographic b axis. Measurements of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat on the Ta4Pd3Te16 crystals, grown via a self-flux method, consistently demonstrate bulk superconductivity at 4.6 K. Further analyses of the data indicate significant electron-electron interaction, which allows electronic Cooper pairing in the present system.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Thermodynamic anomaly above the superconducting critical temperature in the quasi-one-dimensional superconductorTa4Pd3Te16

“…This ground-state electronic competition is particularly important in quasi-one dimensional (q1D) systems [4,5], which generically show charge order and often also exhibit unconventional superconductivity. Recently, the q1D ternary superconductor Ta 4 Pd 3 Te 16 (TPT) has been suggested to be proximal to quantum ordered states and a possible host for unconventional superconductivity [6][7][8].…”

“…This may be because TPT is significantly more isotropic: although direct resistivity measurements have been unavailable until now, measurements of the upper critical field have given indirect evidence that the electronic anisotropy in this compound is relatively weak [6,7]. Recent density functional theory (DFT) calculations predict that the system is multi-band in nature [12], showing a combination of q2D, 3D and several q1D bands at the Fermi level E F that could account for earlier evidence of unconventional behavior in the thermal conductivity and heat capacity [6,7]. Aside from superconductivity, no other bulk properties show clear thermodynamic evidence for an additional order parameter, raising the possibility that there may not be any other broken symmetry proximal to superconductivity.…”

Superconductivity at 4.4 K in PdTe2 Chains of a Ta-Based Compound

“…The residual resistivity (ρ 0 ) by extrapolation gives the value of 5.74x10 -7 Ω-cm. The residual resistivity ratio (RRR; the ratio of the resistivity at room temperature and at zero temperature) is estimated to be 6.23, which is though good enough for polycrystalline bulk sample but much smaller than the recently studied single crystal of Ta 4 Pd 3 Te 16 [9]. Lower inset of Figure 2 shows the magneto-resistivity being measured perpendicular to the applied magnetic field of up to 5Tesla.…”

“…The observed XRD pattern along with its Rietveld refined simulated pattern with in monoclinic C2/m (#12) structure using Full-Prof is shown in Figure 1 phase does not crystallize with same nominal composition, probably due to Pd/Te loses [9].…”

Superconductivity at 4 K in Pd-Deficient Layered Ta2Pd x S6

“…Strong spin-orbit coupled 4d and 5d transition metal based compounds such as (Nb/Ta) 2 Pd x (S/Se/Te) y have gained renewed research interests due to their exotic superconducting properties, such as exceptionally large upper critical fields, being surpassing the Pauli paramagnetic limit, H p~1 .84T c , their multi band nature and pressure independent superconducting transition temperature (T c ) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. In a very recent experimental observations Lu et.…”