Coexistence of superconductivity and charge-density wave in the quasi-one-dimensional material HfTe3

Saleem J Denholme; Akinori Yukawa; Kohei Tsumura; Masanori Nagao; Ryuji Tamura; Satoshi Watauchi; Isao Tanaka; Hideaki Takayanagi; Nobuaki Miyakawa

doi:10.1038/srep45217

Coexistence of superconductivity and charge-density wave in the quasi-one-dimensional material HfTe₃

Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 24:7:45217. doi: 10.1038/srep45217.

Authors

Saleem J Denholme¹, Akinori Yukawa¹, Kohei Tsumura¹, Masanori Nagao², Ryuji Tamura³, Satoshi Watauchi², Isao Tanaka², Hideaki Takayanagi¹, Nobuaki Miyakawa¹

Affiliations

¹ Tokyo University of Science, Department of Applied Physics, Tokyo, 125-8585, Japan.
² University of Yamanashi, Centre for Crystal Science and Technology, Yamanashi, 400-8511, Japan.
³ Tokyo University of Science, Department of Materials Science and Technology, Tokyo, 125-8585, Japan.

Abstract

We present the first experimental evidence for metallicity, superconductivity (SC) and the co-existence of charge density waves (CDW) in the quasi-one-dimensional material HfTe₃. The existence of such phenomena is a typical characteristic of the transition metal chalcogenides however, without the application of hydrostatic pressure/chemical doping, it is rare for a material to exhibit the co-existence of both states. Materials such as HfTe₃ can therefore provide us with a unique insight into the relationship between these multiple ordered states. By improving on the original synthesis conditions, we have successfully synthesised single phase HfTe₃ and confirmed the resultant structure by performing Rietveld refinement. Using low temperature resistivity measurements, we provide the first experimental evidence of SC at ~1.4 K as well as a resistive anomaly indicative of a CDW formation at ~82 K. By the application of hydrostatic-pressure, the resistivity anomaly shifts to higher temperature. The results show that HfTe₃ is a promising new material to help study the relationship between SC and CDW.