Superconductivity and magnetic order in the noncentrosymmetric half-Heusler compound ErPdBi

Abstract

We report superconductivity at Tc = 1.22 K and magnetic order at TN = 1.06 K in the semimetallic noncentrosymmetric half-Heusler compound ErPdBi. The upper critical field, Bc2, has an unusual quasi-linear temperature variation and reaches a value of 1.6 T for T 0. Magnetic order is found below Tc and is suppressed at BM 2.5 T for T 0. Since Tc TN , the interaction of superconductivity and magnetism is expected to give rise to a complex ground state. Moreover, electronic-structure calculations show that ErPdBi has a topologically nontrivial band inversion and thus may serve as a new platform to study the interplay of topological states, superconductivity and magnetic order.