Fermi-arc supercurrent oscillations in Dirac semimetal Josephson junctions.

ABSTRACT: One prominent hallmark of topological semimetals is the existence of unusual topological surface states known as Fermi arcs. Nevertheless, the Fermi-arc superconductivity remains elusive. Here, we report the critical current oscillations from surface Fermi arcs in Nb-Dirac semimetal Cd₃As₂-Nb Josephson junctions. The supercurrent from bulk states are suppressed under an in-plane magnetic field ~0.1 T, while the supercurrent from the topological surface states survives up to 0.5 T. Contrary to the minimum normal-state conductance, the Fermi-arc carried supercurrent shows a maximum critical value near the Dirac point, which is consistent with the fact that the Fermi arcs have maximum density of state at the Dirac point. Moreover, the critical current exhibits periodic oscillations with a parallel magnetic field, which is well understood by considering the in-plane orbital effect from the surface states. Our results suggest the Dirac semimetal combined with superconductivity should be promising for topological quantum devices.

SUBMITTER: Li CZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7051961 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature