Visualization by scanning SQUID microscopy of the intermediate state in the superconducting Dirac semimetal PdTe2

P Garcia-Campos (1) , Y K Huang (2) , A de Visser (2) , Klaus Hasselbach (1)

1 NEEL - MagSup - Magnétisme et Supraconductivité
2 Van der Waals - Zeeman Institute

The Dirac semimetal PdTe2 becomes superconducting at a temperature Tc = 1.6 K. Thermodynamic and muon spin rotation experiments support type-I superconductivity, which is unusual for a binary compound. A key property of a type-I superconductor is the intermediate state which presents a coexistence of superconducting and normal domains (flux structures) at magnetic fields lower than the thermodynamic critical field Hc. By means of scanning SQUID microscopy (SSM) we observe flux structures in the superconducting state of PdTe2. The flux structures are strongly history dependent with a transition from round shapes to laminar shapes as the magnetic field is more and more increased. The field amplitudes measured at the surface are indicative for the presence of Landau branching. The domain wall width in the intermediate state has been determined.

Domaines: Supraconductivité [cond-mat.supr-con]

P Garcia-Campos, Y K Huang, A de Visser, Klaus Hasselbach. Visualization by scanning SQUID microscopy of the intermediate state in the superconducting Dirac semimetal PdTe2. Physical Review B, 2021, 103 (10), pp.104510. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevB.103.104510⟩. ⟨hal-02900702⟩