Cool under pressure: Superconductivity in 3D Dirac semimetal zirconium pentatelluride
(Phys.org)—Due to their electronic and magnetic properties and their association with crystalline and electronic structures under extreme conditions, three-dimensional (3D) Dirac semimetals – that is, materials that possess bulk Dirac fermions that disperse linearly along all three momentum directions – are proving to be of great interest. Moreover, these materials allow high pressure as an effective, clean method of lattice tuning. Recently, scientists at high magnetic field laboratory of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CHMFL), Nanjing University, HPSTAR in Shanghai, and Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington combined multiple experimental probes, synchrotron X-ray diffraction, low-temperature transport under a magnetic field, and theoretical investigations to demonstrate the pressure-induced semimetal-to-superconductor transition in a Dirac topological semimetal zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe5) compound.