Observation of Two-Level Critical State in the Superconducting FeTe Thin Films^*

FeTe, a non-superconducting parent compound in the iron-chalcogenide family, becomes superconducting after annealing in oxygen. Under the presence of magnetism, spin-orbit coupling, inhomogeneity and lattice distortion, the nature of its superconductivity is not well understood. Here we combine the mutual inductance technique with magneto transport to study the magnetization and superconductivity of FeTe thin films. It is found that the films with the highest T_\rm C show non-saturating superfluid density and a strong magnetic hysteresis distinct from that in a homogeneous superconductor. Such a hysteresis can be well explained by a two-level critical state model and suggests the importance of granularity to superconductivity in this compound.