Pressured-induced superconducting phase with large upper critical field and concomitant enhancement of antiferromagnetic transition in EuTe2
Pengtao Yang, Ziyi Liu, Keyu Chen, Xiaolei Liu, Xin Zhang, Zhenhai Yu, Hongrui Zhang, Jianping Sun, Yoshiya Uwatoko, Xiaoli Dong, Kun Jiang, Jiangping Hu, Yanfeng Guo, Bosen Wang, Jinguang Cheng
Abstract
Abstract We report an unusual pressure-induced superconducting state that coexists with an antiferromagnetic ordering of Eu 2+ moments and shows a large upper critical field comparable to the Pauli paramagnetic limit in EuTe 2 . In concomitant with the emergence of superconductivity with T c ≈ 3–5 K above P c ≈ 6 GPa, the antiferromagnetic transition temperature T N ( P ) experiences a quicker rise with the slope increased dramatically from d T N /d P = 0.85(14) K/GPa for P ≤ P c to 3.7(2) K/GPa for P ≥ P c . Moreover, the superconducting state can survive in the spin-flop state with a net ferromagnetic component of the Eu 2+ sublattice under moderate magnetic fields μ 0 H ≥ 2 T. Our findings establish the pressurized EuTe 2 as a rare magnetic superconductor possessing an intimated interplay between magnetism and superconductivity.