Superconductivity at the Normal Metal/Dirac Semimetal Cd$_3$As$_2$ Interface
Shuai Zhang1*, Yiyan Wang1,2, Chaoyang Ma1, Wenliang Zhu1,2, Zhian Ren1,2,3, Lei Shan4*, and Genfu Chen1,2,3*
1Institute of Physics and Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China 2School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 3Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan 523808, China 4Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials of Ministry of Education, Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Abstract：We investigate the interface between a three-dimensional Dirac semimetal Cd$_3$As$_2$ and a normal metal via soft-point contact spectroscopy measurement. The superconducting gap features were detected below 3.8 K and 7.1 K in the case of Cd$_3$As$_2$ single crystals sputter-coated with the Pt and Au films, respectively, in the differential conductance $dI/dV$–$V$ plots of the point contacts. As the applied magnetic field increased, the drop in the zero-bias contact resistance shifted toward lower temperatures. The topologically non-trivial band structure of Cd$_3$As$_2$ is considered to play a crucial role in inducing the superconductivity. Apart from realizing superconductivity in topological materials, our creative approach can be used to investigate possible topological superconductivity and exhibits a high application potential in electronic devices.
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2020, Vol. 37 
