Superconducting high-entropy alloys (HEAs) are a newly burgeoning field of unconventional superconductors and raise intriguing questions about the presence of superconductivity in highly disordered systems, which lack regular phonon modes. In our study, we have synthesized and investigated the superconducting characteristics of two new transition elements based HEAs Re$_{0.35} $Os$_{0.35} $Mo$_{0.08} $W$_{0.10} $Zr$_{0.12}$ (ReOMWZ) crystallizing in noncentrosymmetric $α$-Mn structure, and Ru$_{0.35} $Os$_{0.35} $Mo$_{0.10} $W$_{0.10} $Zr$_{0.10}$ (RuOMWZ) crystallizing hexagonal closed-packed structure (hcp). Transition metal-based hexagonal hcp HEA is rare and highly desirable for practical applications due to their high hardness. Bulk magnetization, resistivity, and specific heat measurements confirmed bulk type-II superconductivity in both alloys. Specific heat analysis up to the measured low-temperature range suffices for a BCS explanation. Comparable upper critical fields with the Pauli paramagnetic limit suggest the possibility of unconventional superconductivity in both HEAs.
Recently, high entropy alloys (HEAs) have emerged as a new platform for discovering superconducting materials and offer avenues to explore exotic superconductivity. The highly disordered nature of HEA suggests regular phonon required for BCS superconductivity may be unlikely to occur. Therefore understanding the microscopic properties of these superconducting HEA is important. We report the first detailed characterization of the superconducting properties of the noncentrosymmetric ($α$-Mn structure) HEA {(HfNb)}$_{0.10}${(MoReRu)}$_{0.90}$, and {(ZrNb)}$_{0.10}${(MoReRu)}$_{0.90}$ by using mag…
A series of new Cr$_{5+x}$Mo$_{35-x}$W$_{12}$Re$_{35}$Ru$_{13}$C$_{20}$ high-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been synthesized and characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements. It is found that the HEAs adopt a noncentrosymmetric cubic $β$-Mn type structure and exhibit bulk superconductivity for 0 $\leq$ $x$ $\leq$ 9. With increasing $x$, the cubic lattice parameter decreases from 6.7940(3) Å to 6.7516(3) Å. Meanwhile, the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$ is suppressed from 5.49 K to…
We report the superconducting properties of new hexagonal Nb$_{10+2x}$Mo$_{35-x}$Ru$_{35-x}$Rh$_{10}$Pd$_{10}$ high-entropy alloys (HEAs) (0 $\leq$ $x$ $\leq$ 5). With increasing $x$, the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$ shows a maximum of 6.19 K at $x$ = 2.5, while the zero-temperature upper critical field $B_{\rm c2}$(0) increases monotonically, reaching 8.3 T at $x$ = 5. For all $x$ values, the specific heat jump deviates from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schreiffer behavior. In addition, we show that $T_{\rm c}$ of these HEAs is not determined mainly by the density of states at the…
Single crystals of NbGe$_{2}$ which crystallize in a noncentrosymmetric hexagonal structure with chirality are synthesized and their superconductivity is investigated. Type-I superconductivity is confirmed by dc magnetization, field-induced second-to first-order phase transition in specific heat, and a small Ginzburg-Landau parameter $κ_{GL}=0.12$. The isothermal magnetization measurements show that there is a crossover from type-I to type-II/1 superconductivity with decreasing temperature and an unusually enhanced surface superconducting critical field ($H_{c3}$) is discovered. The band struc…
We present a magnetic-penetration-depth study on polycrystalline and granular samples of SrPtAs, a pnictide superconductor with a hexagonal structure containing PtAs layers that individually break inversion symmetry (local noncentrosymmetry). Compact samples show a clear-cut s-wave-type BCS behavior, which we consider to be the intrinsic penetration depth of SrPtAs. Granular samples display a sample-dependent second diamagnetic drop, attributed to the intergrain coupling. Our experimental results point to a nodeless isotropic superconducting energy gap in SrPtAs, which puts strong constraints …
The effects of lithium absorption on the crystal structure and electronic properties of IrSi3, a binary silicide with a noncentrosymmetric crystal structure, were studied. X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments revealed that hexagonal IrSi3 (space group P6_3mc) transforms into trigonal Li2IrSi3 (space group P31c) upon lithium absorption. The structure of Li2IrSi3 is found to consist of a planar kagome network of silicon atoms with Li and Ir spaced at unequal distances between the kagome layers, resulting in a polar structure along the c-axis. Li2IrSi3 exhibited type-II superconductivity wit…
High entropy alloys (HEAs) are the new class of materials with an attractive combination of tunable mechanical and physicochemical properties. They crystallize mainly in cubic structures, however, for practical applications, HEAs with hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure are highly desirable in connection to their in general high hardness. Herein, we report the synthesis, structure and detailed superconducting properties of Re$_{0.56}$Nb$_{0.11}$Ti$_{0.11}$Zr$_{0.11}$Hf$_{0.11}$-the first hexagonal superconducting high entropy alloy (HEA) composed of five randomly distributed transition-meta…
We report an investigation of the superconducting properties of the hexagonal noncentrosymmetric compound LaPdIn. Electrical resistivity, specific heat and ac susceptibility measurements demonstrate the presence of bulk superconductivity below $T_c$ = 1.6 K. The specific heat, together with the penetration depth measured using transverse-field muon spin rotation and the tunnel diode oscillator based method, are well described by single gap $s$-wave superconductivity, with a gap magnitude of 1.8$k_BT_c$. From zero-field muon spin relaxation results no evidence is found for the spontaneous emerg…
We report the discovery of a bulk superconducting transition at 3.4 K in the ternary phosphide, ScIrP, which crystallizes in a hexagonal ZrNiAl-type structure without spatial inversion symmetry. On the basis of heat capacity data in a zero magnetic field, ScIrP is suggested to be a weakly-coupled Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductor. Alternatively, experimental results under magnetic fields indicate that this material is a type-II superconductor with an upper critical field Hc2 at magnetic fields above 5 T at zero temperature. This moderately high Hc2 does not violate the Pauli limit, but …
Recently, the hexagonal phase of ternary transition metal pnictides TT'X (T = Zr, Hf; T'= Ru; X = P, As), which are well-known noncentrosymmetric superconductors, were predicted to host nontrivial bulk topology. In this work, we systematically investigate the electronic responses of ZrRuAs to external pressure. At ambient pressure, ZrRuAs show superconductivity with Tc ~ 7.74 K, while a large upper critical field ~ 13.03 T is obtained for ZrRuAs, which is comparable to the weak-coupling Pauli limit. The resistivity of ZrRuAs exhibits a non-monotonic evolution with increasing pressure. The supe…
A large number of half-Heusler compounds have been recently proposed as three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs) with tunable physical properties.However, no transport measurements associated with the topological surface states have been observed in these half-Heusler candidates due to the dominating contribution from bulk electrical conductance. Here we show that, by reducing the mobility of bulk carriers, a two-dimensional (2D) weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, one of the hallmarks of topological surface states, was experimentally revealed from the tilted magnetic field dependen…
Prompted by the recent report on the evidence for superconductivity at ambient temperature and pressure in nanostructures of silver particles embedded into a gold matrix [arXiv:1807.08572], we have exploited first principles materials discovery approaches to predict superconductivity in the 3D bulk crystals and 2D slabs of Ag-Au binary alloys at 1 atm pressure within the phonon-mediated BCS-like pairing mechanism. In calculations, it turns out that, the estimated superconducting transition temperatures of the ensued stable and metastable Ag-Au alloys resulted in Tc as low as one mK. Whereas si…
We report here the structural, electrical and magnetic properties of as-cast V$_{1-x}$Zr$_x$ alloys ($x$ =0 - 0.4) at low temperatures. We observe that all the alloys undergo successive peritectic and eutectic reactions during cooling from the melt which leads to the formation of five phases, namely, a body centred cubic $β$-V phase, two phases with slightly different compositions having face centred cubic ZrV$_2$ structure, a hexagonal closed packed $α$-Zr phase, and the $β$-Zr precipitates. The amount of each phase is found to be dependent on the concentration of zirconium in vanadium. The $…
We report the synthesis of tetragonal $\mathrm{FeS}_x\mathrm{Se}_{1-x}$ films ($x \leq 0.78$) by pulsed-laser deposition. To fabricate the tetragonal alloy films with tetragonal FeSe and hexagonal FeS targets, we adopted an alternate deposition technique with FeSe buffer layer on MgO(001). The overall film composition is controlled by the thickness ratio of FeS / FeSe layers. The out-of-plane lattice parameter of the films follows Vegard's law, demonstrating homogeneous alloying by inter-diffusion. The sulfur solid solubility reaches $x = 0.78$ in the $\mathrm{FeS}_x\mathrm{Se}_{1-x}$ films, w…
We report the synthesis of new equimolar high-entropy alloys (HEAs) formed from five or six 4d/5d transition metals that are each from a different Group of the Periodic Table. These include MoReRuRhPt and MoReRuIrPt, which have a valence electron count (VEC) of 8 and crystallise in the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) structure, making them isoelectronic and isostructural to the elements Ru and Os and the high-pressure phase of the well-known HEA CrMnFeCoNi. Analogous HEAs with VECs of 7, 6 and 5 crystallise with multiple phases, which we rationalise using the atomic size difference, $δ$, and the …
Based on the first-principles calculations and experimental measurements, we report that the hexagonal phase of ternary transition metal pnictides TT'X (T=Zr, Hf; T'=Ru; X=P, As), which are well-known noncentrosymmetric superconductors with relatively high transition temperatures, host nontrivial bulk topology. Before the superconducting phase transition, we find that HfRuP belongs to a Weyl semimetal phase with 12 pairs of type-II Weyl points, while ZrRuAs, ZrRuP and HfRuAs belong to a topological crystalline insulating phase with trivial Fu-Kane $\mathbb Z_2$ indices but $nontrivial$ mirror …
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are a new class of materials which are being energetically studied around the world. HEAs are characterized by a multi-component alloy in which five or more elements randomly occupy a crystallographic site. The conventional HEA concept has developed into simple crystal structures such as face-centered-cubic (fcc), body-centered-cubic (bcc) and hexagonal-closed packing (hcp) structures. The highly atomic-disordered state produces many superior mechanical or thermal properties. Superconductivity has been one of the topics of focus in the field of HEAs since the discove…
We report the discovery of superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric NbReSi, which crystallizes in a hexagonal ZrNiAl-type crystal structure with space group $P\bar{6}2m$ (No.~189). Bulk superconductivity, with $T_c$ = 6.5 K was characterized via electrical-resistivity, magnetization, and heat-capacity measurements. The low-temperature electronic specific heat suggests a fully gapped superconducting state in NbReSi, while a large upper critical field of $μ_0H_\mathrm{c2}(0)$ $\sim$ 12.6 T is obtained, which is comparable to the weak-coupling Pauli limit. The electronic band-structure calculation…
Polycrystalline La$_{7}$Ir$_{3}$ is reported to show superconductivity breaking time-reversal symmetry while also having an isotropic $s$-wave gap. Single crystals of this noncentrosymmetric superconductor are highly desirable to understand the nature of the electron pairing mechanism in this system. Here we report the growth of high-quality single crystals of La$_{7}$Ir$_{3}$ by the Czochralski method. The structural and superconducting properties of these large crystals have been investigated using x-rays, magnetization, resistivity and heat capacity measurements. We observe a clear anisotro…
