Possible Topological Superconducting Phases of MoS2

Noah F. Q. Yuan, Kin Fai Mak, and K. T. Law
Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 097001 – Published 26 August 2014

Abstract

Molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) has attracted much interest in recent years due to its potential applications in a new generation of electronic devices. Recently, it was shown that thin films of MoS2 can become superconducting with a highest Tc of 10 K when the material is heavily gated to the conducting regime. In this work, using the group theoretical approach, we determine the possible pairing symmetries of heavily gated MoS2. Depending on the electron-electron interactions and Rashba spin-orbit coupling, the material can support an exotic spin-singlet p+ip-wavelike, an exotic spin-triplet s-wavelike, and a conventional spin-triplet p-wave pairing phase. Importantly, the exotic spin-singlet p+ip-wave phase is a topological superconducting phase that breaks time-reversal symmetry spontaneously and possesses nonzero Chern numbers where the Chern number determines the number of branches of chiral Majorana edge states.

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  • Received 25 May 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.097001

© 2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Noah F. Q. Yuan1, Kin Fai Mak2, and K. T. Law1,*

  • 1Department of Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
  • 2Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA and Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

  • *phlaw@ust.hk

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Vol. 113, Iss. 9 — 29 August 2014

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