Topologically protected surface states in a centrosymmetric superconductor β-PdBi2

M. Sakano, K. Okawa, M. Kanou, H. Sanjo, T. Okuda, T. Sasagawa and K Ishizaka ()
Additional contact information
M. Sakano: The University of Tokyo
K. Okawa: Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology
M. Kanou: Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology
H. Sanjo: The University of Tokyo
T. Okuda: Hiroshima Synchrotron Radiation Center, Hiroshima University
T. Sasagawa: Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology
K Ishizaka: The University of Tokyo

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The topological aspects of electrons in solids can emerge in real materials, as represented by topological insulators. In theory, they show a variety of new magneto-electric phenomena, and especially the ones hosting superconductivity are strongly desired as candidates for topological superconductors. While efforts have been made to develop possible topological superconductors by introducing carriers into topological insulators, those exhibiting indisputable superconductivity free from inhomogeneity are very few. Here we report on the observation of topologically protected surface states in a centrosymmetric layered superconductor, β-PdBi2, by utilizing spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Besides the bulk bands, several surface bands are clearly observed with symmetrically allowed in-plane spin polarizations, some of which crossing the Fermi level. These surface states are precisely evaluated to be topological, based on the Z2 invariant analysis in analogy to three-dimensional strong topological insulators. β-PdBi2 may offer a solid stage to investigate the topological aspect in the superconducting condensate.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9595 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9595

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9595

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().