Superconducting Proximity in Intrinsic Magnetic Topological Insulator MnBi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>4</sub>–NbN Hybrid Device Modulated by Coulomb Blockade Effect
Jing-Jing Chen, Wen-Zheng Xu, Zhenbing Tan, Zhencun Pan, Pengfei Zhu, Zhi‐Min Liao, Dapeng Yu
Abstract
The combination of nontrivial topology, magnetism, and superconductivity could offer the potential to realize exotic excitations of quasiparticles. MnBi2Te4, as an intrinsic magnetic topological insulator, may be a good platform to create Majorana fermions if coupled to an s-wave superconductor. Here, we report the transport properties of a MnBi2Te4–NbN hybrid device. This device exhibits clear Coulomb blockade oscillations. We observe a large zero-bias conductance peak that exists over considerable changes in gate voltage, magnetic field, and temperature, which is interpreted as a not fully developed supercurrent. The zero-bias peak shows a nonmonotonic evolution with a magnetic field and an abrupt π phase shift with changing temperature. Zero-energy bound states and a topological phase transition may exist in this hybrid system. Our results provide the first experimental investigation into the properties of the intrinsic magnetic topological insulator/superconductor hybrid structures modulated by the Coulomb blockade effect.