Edge-sensitive intrinsic superconductivity of MoTe2

We report that the intrinsic superconductivity of MoTe2 is sensitive to the kind of condensate that prevails on its edge mode. We prepared nanodevices from exfoliated MoTe2 crystals (50 – 100 nm in thickness). The physical edges of the devices were entirely covered by niobium electrodes, which were reported to be incompatible with the intrinsic condensate. [1] Gold electrodes were used to apply current and measure resistances. The resulting differential resistance dV/dI spectra versus applied current I and applied field μH showed modulations of critical currents corresponding to the area, even at high H. Such oscillations were the signature of proximitized edge mode by niobium condensates. Evidence of suppression of intrinsic condensate were observed; the critical current switching at μH < μH_c of intrinsic condensate was deterministic. Moreover, cuts of the differential resistance spectra at zero applied bias did not show any anti-hysteretic changes of resistance or plateaus of resistance at small fields.

[1] S. Kim, S. Lei, L. Schoop, R. J. Cava, N. P. Ong, Eavesdropping on competing condensates by the edge supercurrent in a Weyl superconductor, https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.00933.