Tip-induced superconductivity on the topological semimetals TaAs2 and NbAs2

2020 
${\mathrm{TaAs}}_{2}$ and ${\mathrm{NbAs}}_{2}$ are members of the ${MPn}_{2}$ family with weak topological invariants of ${Z}_{2}$ = [0;111]. Here, we report the tip-induced superconductivity achieved on both materials using the point-contact technique. Although the weak ${Z}_{2}$ number leads to strongly crystal-orientation-dependent surface states, we observed a universal relationship between the zero-temperature upper critical field ${H}_{c2}(0)$ and the critical temperature ${T}_{c}$ for different crystal orientations. Combined with first-principles calculations, the findings here could identify a bulk band, instead of the much speculated surface bands, playing the dominant role in the induced superconductivity. These results predict a great possibility to realize superconductivity in other members of the ${MPn}_{2}$ family possessing similar band structures and provide clues to understand the mechanism of tip-induced superconductivity.
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