biostudies-literatureUnknown9(1)de la Barrera SCSystems simultaneously exhibiting superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling are predicted to provide a route toward topological superconductivity and unconventional electron pairing, driving significant contemporary interest in these materials. Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) superconductors in particular lack inversion symmetry, yielding an antisymmetric form of spin-orbit coupling that admits both spin-singlet and spin-triplet components of the superconducting wavefunction. Here, we present an experimental and theoretical study of two intrinsic TMD superconductors with large spin-orbit coupling in the atomic layer limit, metallic 2H-TaS₂ and 2H-NbSe₂. We investigate the superconducting properties as the material is reduced to monolayer thickness and show that high-field measurements point to the largest upper critical field thus reported for an intrinsic TMD superconductor. In few-layer samples, we find the enhancement of the upper critical field is sustained by the dominance of spin-orbit coupling over weak interlayer coupling, providing additional candidate systems for supporting unconventional superconducting states in two dimensions.Nature communications1427https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5897486biostudies-literatureTuning Ising superconductivity with layer and spin-orbit coupling in two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides.PMC5897486de la Barrera SCSinko MRHunt BMGopalan DPTsen AWSeyler KLWatanabe KSivadas NTaniguchi TXu XXiao DfalseTuning Ising superconductivity with layer and spin-orbit coupling in two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides.Systems simultaneously exhibiting superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling are predicted to provide a route toward topological superconductivity and unconventional electron pairing, driving significant contemporary interest in these materials. Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) superconductors in particular lack inversion symmetry, yielding an antisymmetric form of spin-orbit coupling that admits both spin-singlet and spin-triplet components of the superconducting wavefunction. Here, we present an experimental and theoretical study of two intrinsic TMD superconductors with large spin-orbit coupling in the atomic layer limit, metallic 2H-TaS₂ and 2H-NbSe₂. We investigate the superconducting properties as the material is reduced to monolayer thickness and show that high-field measurements point to the largest upper critical field thus reported for an intrinsic TMD superconductor. In few-layer samples, we find the enhancement of the upper critical field is sustained by the dominance of spin-orbit coupling over weak interlayer coupling, providing additional candidate systems for supporting unconventional superconducting states in two dimensions.2018-01-01T00:00:00Z2018 Apr2025-04-04T13:34:05.11Z2019-03-26T23:29:33ZS-EPMC58974862965099410.1038/s41467-018-03888-4