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Superconductivity in CuxTiSe2

Nature Physics volume 2, pages 544–550 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Charge density waves (CDWs) are periodic modulations of the density of conduction electrons in solids. They are collective states that arise from intrinsic instabilities often present in low-dimensional electronic systems. The most well-studied examples are the layered dichalcogenides–an example of which is TiSe2, one of the first CDW-bearing materials to be discovered. At low temperatures, a widely held belief is that the CDW competes with another collective electronic state, superconductivity. But despite much exploration, a detailed study of this competition is lacking. Here we report how, on controlled intercalation of TiSe2 with Cu to yield CuxTiSe2, the CDW transition can be continuously suppressed, and a new superconducting state emerges near x=0.04, with a maximum transition temperature Tc of 4.15 K at x=0.08. CuxTiSe2 thus provides the first opportunity to study the CDW to superconductivity transition in detail through an easily controllable chemical parameter, and will provide fundamental insight into the behaviour of correlated electron systems.

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Figure 1: Lattice parameters of CuxTiSe2.
Figure 2: Magnetization and transport properties of CuxTiSe2.
Figure 3: The superconducting phase transition as a function of Cu content x.
Figure 4: Characterization of the superconductivity in Cu0.08TiSe2.
Figure 5: Summary of the composition-dependent properties in CuxTiSe2.
Figure 6: The CuxTiSe2 T–x electronic phase diagram.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported primarily by the US DOE-BES solid state chemistry program, and, in part, by the US NSF MRSEC program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, USA

    E. Morosan, J. W. G. Bos, T. Klimczuk & R. J. Cava

  2. Department of Nanoscience, National Centre for HREM, Delft Institute of Technology, 2628, CJ Delft, The Netherlands

    H. W. Zandbergen

  3. Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey, 07974, USA

    B. S. Dennis & A. P. Ramirez

  4. Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, USA

    Y. Onose & N. P. Ong

  5. Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12, 80-952, Gdansk, Poland

    T. Klimczuk

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  1. E. Morosan
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Correspondence to E. Morosan or R. J. Cava.

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Morosan, E., Zandbergen, H., Dennis, B. et al. Superconductivity in CuxTiSe2. Nature Phys 2, 544–550 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys360

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