Pressure dependence of the charge-density-wave and superconducting states in GdTe3, TbTe3, and DyTe3

Here, we present electrical resistivity and ac-susceptibility measurements of GdTe3, TbTe3 and DyTe3 performed under pressure. An upper charge-density-wave (CDW) is suppressed at a rate of dTCW,1/dP~ –85K/GPa. For TbTe3 and DyTe3, a second CDW below TCDW,2 increases with pressure until it reaches the TCDW,1(P) line. For GdTe3, the lower CDW emerges as pressure is increased above ~1GPa. As these two CDW states are suppressed with pressure, superconductivity (SC) appears in the three compounds at lower temperatures. Ac-susceptibility experiments performed on TbTe3 provide compelling evidence for bulk SC in the low-pressure region of the phase diagram. We provide measurements of superconducting critical fields and discuss the origin of a high-pressure superconducting phase occurring above 5 GPa.