Intricate interplay between superconductivity and topological surface states of c axis oriented MoTe2

Abstract

The interaction between superconductivity and spin-polarized surface states of topological materials provides an exciting platform for the research and development of proximity induced coupling effects, Majorana fermions, spin valves, spintronics, etc. and so on. In this work, the inverse proximity effect observed exactly at the super conducting transition temperature of indium (3.5 K) demonstrates the complex interplay between robust 2D spin-polarized surface states observed in our (002n) oriented MoTe2 nanolayer sheets with that of superconducting states. Interestingly, our phenomenological model based on the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) model and Ginzburg–Landau formalism, invoked to validate the experimental observations, indicates a competition between superconductivity and topological order, marked by a close correspondence between the temperature of crossover (Tcr = 2.45 K) of their respective length scales, ξ and Lφ, and the saturation temperature in resistivity.