Anisotropic superconducting property studies of single crystal PbTaSe₂

Abstract

The anisotropic superconducting properties of PbTaSe 2 single crystal is reported. Superconductivity with T c = 3.83 ± 0.02 K has been characterized fully with electrical resistivity ρ ( T ), magnetic susceptibility χ ( T ), and specific heat C p ( T ) measurements using single crystal samples. The superconductivity is type-II with lower critical field H c1 and upper critical field H c2 of 65 and 450 Oe ( H ⊥ to the ab -plane), 140 and 1500 Oe ( H || to the ab -plane), respectively. These results indicate that the superconductivity of PbTaSe 2 is anisotropic. The superconducting anisotropy, electron–phonon coupling λ ep , superconducting energy gap Δ 0 , and the specific heat jump Δ C / γT c at T c confirms that PbTaSe 2 can be categorized as a bulk superconductor.