Fully gapped superconductivity in In-doped topological crystalline insulator Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te

Abstract

Superconductors derived from topological insulators and topological crystalline insulators by doping have long been considered to be candidates as topological superconductors. Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te is a topological crystalline insulator with mirror symmetry protected surface states on (001), (011) and (111) oriented surfaces. The superconductor (Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$)$_{0.7}$In$_{0.3}$Te is induced by In doping in Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$Te, and is thought to be a topological superconductor. Here we report the first scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurement of the superconducting state as well as the superconducting energy gap in (Pb$_{0.5}$Sn$_{0.5}$)$_{0.7}$In$_{0.3}$Te on a (001)-oriented surface. The spectrum can be well fitted by an anisotropic $s$-wave gap function of $Δ=0.72+0.18\cos4θ$ meV using Dynes model. The results show that the quasi-particle density of states seem to be fully gapped without any in-gap states, in contradiction with the expectation of a topological superconductor.

5 pages, 4 figures