Superconducting Proximity in Intrinsic Magnetic Topological Insulator MnBi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>4</sub>-NbN Hybrid Device Modulated by Coulomb Blockade Effect.

Chen, Jingjing; Xu, Wenzheng; Tan, Zhenbing; Pan, Zhencun; Zhu, Pengfei; Liao, Zhi-Min; Yu, Dapeng · Nano Lett · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The combination of nontrivial topology, magnetism, and superconductivity could offer the potential to realize exotic excitations of quasiparticles. MnBi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>4</sub>, 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 MnBi<sub>2</sub>Te<sub>4</sub>-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.