Conductance Spectroscopy of Exfoliated Thin Flakes of Nb xBi2Se3

Nano Lett. 2019 Jan 9;19(1):38-45. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02954. Epub 2018 Dec 4.

Abstract

We study unconventional superconductivity in exfoliated single crystals of a promising three-dimensional (3D) topological superconductor candidate, Nb-doped Bi2Se3 through differential conductance spectroscopy and magneto-transport. The strong anisotropy of the critical field along the out-of-plane direction suggests that the thin exfoliated flakes are in the quasi-2D limit. Normal metal-superconductor (NS) contacts with either high or low transparencies made by depositing gold leads onto Nb-doped Bi2Se3 flakes both show significant enhancement in zero bias conductance and coherence dips at the superconducting energy gap. Such behavior is inconsistent with conventional Blonder-Tinkham-Klapwijk theory. Instead, we discuss how our results are consistent with p-wave pairing symmetry, supporting the possibility of topological superconductivity in Nb-doped Bi2Se3. Finally, we observe signatures of multiple superconducting energy gaps, which could originate from multiple Fermi surfaces reported earlier in bulk crystals.

Keywords: Andreev reflection spectroscopy; Majorana bound states; Topological superconductivity; doped topological insulators; exfoliated NbxBi2Se3; p-wave pairing symmetry.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.