Imaging atomic-scale surface structure and superconducting gap of the misfit layered compound (SnS)1.17NbS2

@misc{zhao2026imaging,
  title = {{Imaging atomic-scale surface structure and superconducting gap of the misfit layered compound (SnS)1.17NbS2}},
  author = {Dongming Zhao and Shamarita Deb and Lichen Ji and Souvik Das and Paul Simon and Raúl Cardoso-Gil and Steffen Wirth and Walter Schnelle and Sushmita Chandra and Jian-Feng Ge and Claudia Felser},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.17879},
  eprint = {2610.17879},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.17879},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Imaging atomic-scale surface structure and superconducting gap of the misfit layered compound (SnS)1.17NbS2
AU  - Dongming Zhao
AU  - Shamarita Deb
AU  - Lichen Ji
AU  - Souvik Das
AU  - Paul Simon
AU  - Raúl Cardoso-Gil
AU  - Steffen Wirth
AU  - Walter Schnelle
AU  - Sushmita Chandra
AU  - Jian-Feng Ge
AU  - Claudia Felser
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/13
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.17879
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.17879
AB  - Superlattices of van der Waals-coupled two-dimensional materials offer a platform for engineering electronic band structure and fostering emergent quantum states. Misfit layered compounds provide naturally assembled superlattices, in which crystallographically distinct two-dimensional subsystems coexist within a single bulk crystal. Therein, the presence of both commensurate and incommensurate lattice directions introduces structural modulation, which might alter real-space electronic orders such as superconductivity. Here, we investigate the atomic-scale surface structure and local superconductivity of the misfit layered compound (SnS)1.17NbS2 using structural characterization, electrical transport, and low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). While X-ray diffraction and cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy confirm the bulk misfit structure, STM resolves large SnS- and NbS2-terminated terraces, where the surface atomic registry differs from the bulk misfit structure. Furthermore, tunnelling spectroscopy at 2 K reveals nearly identical superconducting gaps on both terminations, and the spatial variation of the gap shows no visible modulation that corresponds to the misfit lattice. These results establish an atomic-scale picture of the surface structure and superconducting states of this naturally assembled misfit heterostructure.
ER  -