Creation, stabilization, and investigation at ambient pressure of pressure-induced superconductivity in Bi _0.5 Sb _1.5 Te ₃

Abstract

In light of breakthroughs in superconductivity under high pressure, and considering that record critical temperatures (T_cs) across various systems have been achieved under high pressure, the primary challenge for higher T_c should no longer solely be to increase T_c under extreme conditions but also to reduce, or ideally eliminate, the need for applied pressure in retaining pressure-induced or -enhanced superconductivity. The topological semiconductor Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ (BST) was chosen to demonstrate our approach to addressing this challenge and exploring its intriguing physics. Under pressures up to ~50 GPa, three superconducting phases (BST-I, -II, and -III) were observed. A superconducting phase in BST-I appears at ~4 GPa, without a structural transition, suggesting the possible topological nature of this phase. Using the pressure-quench protocol (PQP) recently developed by us, we successfully retained this pressure-induced phase at ambient pressure and revealed the bulk nature of the state. Significantly, this demonstrates recovery of a pressure-quenched sample from a diamond anvil cell at room temperature with the pressure-induced phase retained at ambient pressure. Other superconducting phases were retained in BST-II and -III at ambient pressure and subjected to thermal and temporal stability testing. Superconductivity was also found in BST with T_c up to 10.2 K, the record for this compound series. While PQP maintains superconducting phases in BST at ambient pressure, both depressurization and PQP enhance its T_c, possibly due to microstructures formed during these processes, offering an added avenue to raise T_c. These findings are supported by our density-functional theory calculations.