Evidence for a new excitation at the interface between a high-Tc superconductor and a topological insulator

High-temperature superconductors exhibit a wide variety of novel excitations. If contacted with a topological insulator, the lifting of spin rotation symmetry in the surface states can lead to the emergence of unconventional superconductivity and novel particles. In pursuit of this possibility, we fabricated high critical-temperature (Tc ∼ 85 K) superconductor/topological insulator (Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ/Bi2Te2Se) junctions. Below 75 K, a zero- bias conductance peak (ZBCP) emerges in the differential conductance spectra of this junction. The magnitude of the ZBCP is suppressed at the same rate for magnetic fields applied parallel or perpendicular to the junction. Furthermore, it can still be observed and does not split up to at least 8.5 T. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the excitation we observe appears to fall outside the known paradigms for a ZBCP.

Physical Review B  90, 241106(R) (2014)