Polytypism, polymorphism, and superconductivity in TaSe 2 −x Te x
Abstract
Although polymorphs of a substance can often have dramatically different physical properties, polytypes, which occur when the geometry of a structural layer is maintained but the number of layers in the layer-stacking sequence is changed, rarely do. Here we find, using random substitution of Te for some of the Se to induce structural changes in TaSe 2 , a classic layered dichalcogenide, so that the transition temperature to superconductivity ( T c ) is significantly different for different polytypes and polymorphs and especially differs when going from one polytype to another. This observation implies either a surprising sensitivity of T c to the layer-stacking sequence or a similarly surprising sensitivity of T c to the small changes in layer geometry that accompany the change in polytype.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 03, 2015
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1502460112
Entities
People
- Ali Yazdani
- Andras Gyenis
- Hiroyuki Inoue
- Huixia Luo
- Jason W. Krizan
- Jing Tao
- Robert Cava
- Weiwei Xie
- Yimei Zhu
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Division of Materials Research
- Princeton University
- United States Department of Energy
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry