We have performed several high pressure electrical resistance experiments on Bi1.98Sr2.06Y0.68Cu2O8, an insulating parent compound of the high-Tc Bi2212 family of copper oxide superconductors. We find a resistive anomaly, a downturn at low temperature, that onsets with applied pressure in the 20-40 kbar range. Through both resistance and magnetoresistance measurements, we identify this anomaly as a signature of induced superconductivity. Resistance to higher pressures decreases Tc, giving a maximum of 10 K. The higher pressure measurements exhibit a strong sensitivity to the hydrostaticity of the pressure environment. We make comparisons to the pressure induced superconductivity now ubiquitous in the iron arsenides.
In the iron-based superconductors, understanding the relation between superconductivity and electronic structure upon doping is crucial for exploring the pairing mechanism. Recently it was found that in iron selenide (FeSe), enhanced superconductivity (Tc over 40K) can be achieved via electron doping, with the Fermi surface only comprising M-centered electron pockets. Here by utilizing surface potassium dosing, scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), we studied the electronic structure and superconductivity of (Li0.8Fe0.2OH)Fe…
Pairing in superconductors occurs in a variety of channels and can be produced by various mechanisms. Here, we show that, in the presence of strong correlations, a novel singlet-pair superconducting phase can occur in ladder geometries with the fermions in the pairs residing on different sides of a Mott insulating stripe. The antiferromagnet correlations in the Mott stripe provide the pairing "glue" in such a phase. We study, using the density matrix renormalization group method, the ground state of four-leg t-J ladders with Mott insulating stripes in the inner two legs. Pairing and supercondu…
Spinel oxides are well-known functional materials but rarely show superconductivity. Recently, emergent superconductivity was discovered in MgTi$_2$O$_4$, which is attributed to the increase of electron doping and the suppression of orbital order. Here, we utilized Ti $L$-edge resonant inelastic X-ray scattering to study the orbital excitations in superconducting (SC) and insulating MgTi$_2$O$_4$ films. We find that the spectral weight of orbital excitations is enhanced and the energy of $t_{2g}$ intra-band excitation is softened in the SC film compared to the insulating one, suggesting higher…
Quasi one-dimensional organic conductors: from Fröhlich conductivity and Peierls insulating state to magnetically-mediated superconductivity, a retrospective
Two monolayers of graphene twisted by a small `magic' angle exhibit nearly flat bands leading to correlated electronic states and superconductivity, whose precise nature including possible broken symmetries, remain under debate. Here we theoretically study a related but different system with reduced symmetry - twisted {\em double} bilayer graphene (TDBLG), consisting of {\em two} Bernal stacked bilayer graphene sheets, twisted with respect to one another. Unlike the monolayer case, we show that isolated flat bands only appear on application of a vertical displacement field $D$. We construct a …
Superconductivity Appears in the Vicinity of an Insulating-Like Behavior in CeO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$BiS$_{2}$
测量了BiS $_2$基样品CeO $_{1-x}$ F $_{x}$ BiS $_{2}$的电阻和磁化性质，其中O被F系统取代（0 $<$ x $<$ 0.6）.与能带结构的计算结果相反，发现CeOBiS $_2$的母相是一种坏金属，而不是带绝缘体。通过向系统中掺杂电子，令人惊讶地发现超导性与绝缘正常态一起出现。这种演化明显不同于铜酸盐和铁磷属元素化物系统，并被解释为接近冯霍夫奇点。此外，铁磁性，这可能是由于Ce的时刻，已被观察到在低温区在所有的样品中，这表明超导样品中的超导性和铁磁性的共存。
Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), with rotational misalignment close to 1.1$^\circ$, features isolated flat electronic bands that host a rich phase diagram of correlated insulating, superconducting, ferromagnetic, and topological phases. The origins of the correlated insulators and superconductivity, and the interplay between them, are particularly elusive. Both states have been previously observed only for angles within $\pm0.1^\circ$ from the magic-angle value and occur in adjacent or overlapping electron density ranges; nevertheless, it is still unclear how the two states are rela…
The role played by the insulating intermediate (Li$_{0.84}$Fe$_{0.16}$)OH layer on magnetic and superconducting properties of (Li$_{0.84}$Fe$_{0.16}$)OHFe$_{0.98}$Se was studied by means of muon-spin rotation. It was found that it is not only enhances the coupling between the FeSe layers for temperatures below $\simeq 10$ K, but becomes superconducting by itself due to the proximity to the FeSe ones. Superconductivity in (Li$_{0.84}$Fe$_{0.16}$)OH layers is most probably filamentary-like and the energy gap value, depending on the order parameter symmetry, does not exceed 1-1.5 meV.
When bilayer graphene is rotationally faulted to an angle $θ\approx 1.1^\circ$, theory predicts the formation of a flat electronic band and correlated insulating, superconducting, and ferromagnetic states have all been observed at partial band filling. The proximity of superconductivity to correlated insulators has suggested a close relationship between these states, reminiscent of the cuprates where superconductivity arises by doping a Mott insulator. Here, we show that superconductivity can appear without correlated insulating states. While both superconductivity and correlated insulating be…
The dualism between superconductivity and charge/spin modulations (the so-called stripes) dominates the phase diagram of many strongly-correlated systems. A prominent example is given by the Hubbard model, where these phases compete and possibly coexist in a wide regime of electron dopings for both weak and strong couplings. Here, we investigate this antagonism within a variational approach that is based upon Jastrow-Slater wave functions, including backflow correlations, which can be treated within a quantum Monte Carlo procedure. We focus on clusters having a ladder geometry with $M$ legs (w…
At interfaces between complex oxides it is possible to generate electronic systems with unusual electronic properties, which are not present in the isolated oxides. One important example is the appearance of superconductivity at the interface between insulating oxides, although, until now, with very low Tc. We report the occurrence of high Tc superconductivity in the bilayer CaCuO2/SrTiO3, where both the constituent oxides are insulating. In order to obtain a superconducting state, the CaCuO2/SrTiO3 interface must be realized between the Ca plane of CaCuO2 and the TiO2 plane of SrTiO3. Only in…
Adsorption of one-third monolayer of Sn on an atomically-clean Si(111) substrate produces a two-dimensional triangular adatom lattice with one unpaired electron per site. This dilute adatom reconstruction is an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator; however, the system can be modulation-doped and metallized using heavily-doped p-type Si(111) substrates. Here, we show that the hole-doped dilute adatom layer on a degenerately doped p-type Si(111) wafer is superconducting with a critical temperature of 4.7 +- 0.3 K. While a phonon-mediated coupling scenario would be consistent with the observed TC, Mo…
The single-layer FeSe/SrTiO3 (FeSe/STO) films have attracted much attention because of their simple crystal structure, distinct electronic structure and record high superconducting transition temperature (Tc). The origin of the dramatic Tc enhancement in single-layer FeSe/STO films and the dichotomy of superconductivity between single-layer and multiple-layer FeSe/STO films are still under debate. Here we report a comprehensive high resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy measurements on the electronic structure evolution with doping …
Nitrogen vacancy doped SmN$_{1-δ}$ is a semiconductor which lies in the intermediary between insulating-ferromagnetic SmN and metallic-anti-ferromagnetic Sm. The dopant electrons resulting from nitrogen vacancies have recently been predicted to lie in a band precipitated by a majority-spin 4$f$ level on the six Sm ions neighbouring each nitrogen vacancy, an in-gap state $\sim$1 eV below the 4$f$ states in stoichiometric SmN. Optical data reported here corroborate the prediction along with an extended computational study. Electrical transport measurements show the transition from an insulating …
Manipulating the superconducting states of high-T_c cuprate superconductors in an efficient and reliable way is of great importance for their applications in next-generation electronics. Traditional methods are mostly based on a trial-and-error method that is difficult to implement and time consuming. Here, employing ionic liquid gating, a selective control of volatile and non-volatile superconductivity is achieved in pristine insulating Pr_2CuO_{4\pmδ} film, based on two distinct mechanisms: 1) with positive electric fields, the film can be reversibly switched between non-superconducting and …
We report the first observation of superconductivity in heterostructure consisting of an insulating ferroelectric film (Ba$_{0.8}$Sr$_{0.2}$TiO$_3$) grown on an insulating parent compound of La$_2$CuO$_4$ with [001] orientation. The heterostructure was prepared by magnetron sputtering on a non-atomically-flat surface with inhomogeneities of the order of 1-2 nm. The measured superconducting transition temperature T$_c$ is about 30K. We have shown that superconductivity is confined near the interface region. Application of a weak magnetic field perpendicular to the interface leads to the appeara…
We have carried out a detailed study to investigate the existence of an insulating parent phase for FeSe superconductor. The insulating Fe4Se5 with specific Fe-vacancy order shows a 3D-Mott variable range hopping behavior with a Verwey-like electronic correlation at around 45 K. The application of the RTA process at 450 celcius degree results in the destruction of Fe-vacancy order and induces more electron carriers by increasing the Fe3+ valence state. Superconductivity emerges with Tc ~ 8K without changing the chemical stoichiometry of the sample after the RTA process by resulting in the addi…
Iron-based superconductivity develops near an antiferromagnetic order and out of a bad metal normal state, which has been interpreted as originating from a proximate Mott transition. Whether an actual Mott insulator can be realized in the phase diagram of the iron pnictides remains an open question. Here we use transport, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and neutron scattering to demonstrate that NaFe$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$As near $x\approx 0.5$ exhibits real space Fe and Cu ordering, and are antiferromagnetic insulators with the insulating behavior persisting above the …
Graphene moire superlattices have emerged as a platform hosting and abundance of correlated insulating, topological, and superconducting phases. While the origins of strong correlations and non-trivial topology are shown to be directly linked to flat moire bands, the nature and mechanism of superconductivity remain enigmatic. In particular, only alternating twisted stacking geometries of bilayer and trilayer graphene are found to exhibit robust superconductivity manifesting as zero resistance and Fraunhofer interference patterns. Here we demonstrate that magic-angle twisted tri-, quadri-, and …
We investigate the effect of strong disorder on a system with strong electronic repulsion. In absence of disorder, the system has a d-wave superconducting ground-state with strong non-BCS features due to its proximity to a Mott insulator. We find that, while strong correlations make superconductivity in this system immune to weak disorder, superconductivity is destroyed efficiently when disorder strength is comparable to the effective bandwidth. The suppression of charge motion in regions of strong potential fluctuation leads to formation of Mott insulating patches, which anchor a larger non-s…
We report electron doping effects by Ni in K$_{x}$Fe$_{2-δ-y}$Ni$_{y}$Se$_{2}$ (0.06 $\leq$ $y$ $\leq$ 1.44) single crystal alloys. A rich ground state phase diagram is observed. Small amount of Ni ($\sim$ 4\%) suppressed superconductivity below 1.8 K, inducing insulating spin glass magnetic ground state for higher Ni content. With further Ni substitution, metallic resistivity is restored. For high Ni concentration in the lattice the unit cell symmetry is high symmetry $I4/mmm$ with no phase separation whereas both $I4/m + I4/mmm$ space groups were detected in the phase separated crystals when…
We present a theory for the differential shot noise, $dS/dV$, as measured via shot-noise scanning tunneling spectroscopy, and the differential conductance, $dI/dV$, for tunneling into Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in the putative topological superconductor FeSe$_{0.45}$Te$_{0.55}$. We demonstrate that for tunneling into chiral Majorana edge modes near domain walls, as well as MZMs localized in vortex cores and at the end of defect lines, $dS/dV$ vanishes whenever $dI/dV$ reaches a quantized value proportional to the quantum of conductance. These results are independent of the particular orbital t…
In this comment we point out that the experimental evidence for superconductivity presented by Thapa and Pandey in arXiv:1807.08572 is also consistent with a percolation transition. We propose simple follow-up experiments which would help to eliminate percolation as a possible explanation for the observed data.
We investigate the possibility of achieving high-temperature superconductivity in hydrides under pressure by inducing metallization of otherwise insulating phases through doping, a path previously used to render standard semiconductors superconducting at ambient pressure. Following this idea, we study H$_2$O, one of the most abundant and well-studied substances, we identify nitrogen as the most likely and promising substitution/dopant. We show that for realistic levels of doping of a few percent, the phase X of ice becomes superconducting with a critical temperature of about 60 K at 150GPa. In…
Motivated by the recent observations of small Fermi energies and comparatively large superconducting gaps, present also on bands not crossing the Fermi energy (incipient bands) in iron-based superconductors, we analyse the doping evolution of superconductivity in a four-band model across the Lifshitz transition including BCS-BEC crossover effects on the shallow bands. Similar to the BCS case we find that with hole doping the phase difference between superconducting order parameters of the hole bands changes from $0$ to $π$ through an intermediate $s+is$ state breaking time-reversal symmetry. T…
Starting from the strong-coupling limit of an extended Hubbard model, we develop a spin-fermion theory to study the insulating phase and pairing symmetry of the superconducting phase in twisted bilayer graphene. Assuming that the insulating phase is an anti-ferromagnetic insulator, we show that fluctuations of the anti-ferromagnetic order in the conducting phase can mediate superconducting pairing. Using a self-consistent mean-field analysis, we find that the pairing wave function has a chiral d-wave symmetry. Consistent with this observation, we show explicitly the existence of chiral Majoran…
Possible routes to superconductivity in the surface layers of V-doped Mg$_{1-δ}$Ti$_2$O$_4$ through multiple charge transfers and suppression of Jahn-Teller activity
A remarkable recent experiment has observed Mott insulator and proximate superconductor phases in twisted bilayer graphene when electrons partly fill a nearly flat mini-band that arises a `magic' twist angle. However, the nature of the Mott insulator, origin of superconductivity and an effective low energy model remain to be determined. We propose a Mott insulator with intervalley coherence that spontaneously breaks U(1) valley symmetry, and describe a mechanism that selects this order over the competing magnetically ordered states favored by the Hunds coupling. We also identify symmetry relat…
High-Tc superconductivity in cuprates is generally believed to arise from carrier doping an antiferromagnetic Mott (AFM) insulator. Theoretical proposals and emerging experimental evidence suggest that this process leads to the formation of intriguing electronic liquid crystal phases. These phases are characterized by ordered charge and/or spin density modulations, and thought to be intimately tied to the subsequent emergence of superconductivity. The most elusive, insulating charge-stripe crystal phase is predicted to occur when a small density of holes is doped into the charge-transfer insul…
The controlled tunability of superconductivity in low-dimensional materials may enable new quantum devices. Particularly in triplet or topological superconductors, tunneling devices such as Josephson junctions etc. can demonstrate exotic functionalities. The tunnel barrier, an insulating or normal material layer separating two superconductors, is a key component for the junctions. Thin layers of NbSe2 have been shown as a superconductor with strong spin orbit coupling, which can give rise to topological superconductivity if driven by a large magnetic exchange field. Here we demonstrate the sup…
Copper oxide superconductors have continually fascinated the communities of condensed matter physics and material sciences because they host the highest ambient-pressure superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and mysterious physics. Searching for the universal correlation between the superconducting state and its normal state or neighboring ground state is believed to be an effective way for finding clues to elucidate the underlying mechanism of the superconductivity. One of the common pictures for the copper oxide superconductors is that a well-behaved metallic phase will present after t…
