Publication Date:
2013-10-02
Description:
Nature Physics 9, 621 (2013). doi:10.1038/nphys2744 Authors: Eryin Wang, Hao Ding, Alexei V. Fedorov, Wei Yao, Zhi Li, Yan-Feng Lv, Kun Zhao, Li-Guo Zhang, Zhijun Xu, John Schneeloch, Ruidan Zhong, Shuai-Hua Ji, Lili Wang, Ke He, Xucun Ma, Genda Gu, Hong Yao, Qi-Kun Xue, Xi Chen & Shuyun Zhou Topological insulators are a new class of material, that exhibit robust gapless surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry. The interplay of such symmetry-protected topological surface states and symmetry-broken states (for example, superconductivity) provides a platform for exploring new quantum phenomena and functionalities, such as one-dimensional chiral or helical gapless Majorana fermions, and Majorana zero modes that may find application in fault-tolerant quantum computation. Inducing superconductivity on the topological surface states is a prerequisite for their experimental realization. Here, by growing high-quality topological insulator Bi2Se3 films on a d-wave superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ using molecular beam epitaxy, we are able to induce high-temperature superconductivity on the surface states of Bi2Se3 films with a large pairing gap up to 15 meV. Interestingly, distinct from the d-wave pairing of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ, the proximity-induced gap on the surface states is nearly isotropic and consistent with predominant s-wave pairing as revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our work could provide a critical step towards the realization of the long sought Majorana zero modes.
Print ISSN:
1745-2473
Electronic ISSN:
1745-2481
Topics:
Physics
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