Doping-controlled topological superconducting transition in misfit layer compounds
Abstract
Achieving topological superconductivity is a key goal in quantum physics, offering a path to fault-tolerant quantum computers. A central challenge in this field is to continuously drive a material through a topological quantum phase transition to directly observe the evolution from trivial to topological superconductivity. However, finding a robust platform that allows such extreme and precise tuning remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a doping-controlled phase transition from a conventional to a topological superconducting state in the bulk misfit layer compound (LaxPb1-xSe)1.14(NbSe2)2. We reveal a non-monotonic phase diagram characterized by two distinct superconducting regimes separated by a non-superconducting phase at a precise doping. In the highly doped regime, the superconducting phase becomes remarkably sensitive to non-magnetic disorder, and orientation-selective in-gap modes emerge at atomic step edges. Supported by Bogoliubov-de Gennes calculations, these emergent spatial signatures are consistent with a time-reversal-symmetric crystalline-topological order parameter. Our results establish misfit compounds as a platform to engineering topological superconductivity.
Related
- On pseudogap phase as precursor to a superconducting dome in high-Tc cuprates: Non-analytic T* as a function of doping
- Orbital-selective electronic modes induced by doping and originating from distinct spin excitations: an essential feature of orbital-selective Mott transition
- Topological Chiral Superconductivity from Doping Correlated Charge Transfer Insulator with Orbital Magnetism
- Doping-driven Mott transition from steady-state density functional theory
- Topological Superconducting Phases in a Strained Altermagnet-Superconductor Heterostructure
BibTeX
@misc{du2026dopingcontrolled,
title = {{Doping-controlled topological superconducting transition in misfit layer compounds}},
author = {Hugo Le Du and Robin Salvatore and Justine Cordiez and Ludovica Zullo and Arindam Mukherjee and Daniel Schmieg and Dominik Volavka and Francois Debontridder and Marie Herve and Tomas Samuely and Shunsuke Sasaki and Florent Pawula and Etienne Janod and Laurent Cario and Tristan Cren},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.07545},
eprint = {2609.07545},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07545},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Doping-controlled topological superconducting transition in misfit layer compounds
AU - Hugo Le Du
AU - Robin Salvatore
AU - Justine Cordiez
AU - Ludovica Zullo
AU - Arindam Mukherjee
AU - Daniel Schmieg
AU - Dominik Volavka
AU - Francois Debontridder
AU - Marie Herve
AU - Tomas Samuely
AU - Shunsuke Sasaki
AU - Florent Pawula
AU - Etienne Janod
AU - Laurent Cario
AU - Tristan Cren
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.07545
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07545
AB - Achieving topological superconductivity is a key goal in quantum physics, offering a path to fault-tolerant quantum computers. A central challenge in this field is to continuously drive a material through a topological quantum phase transition to directly observe the evolution from trivial to topological superconductivity. However, finding a robust platform that allows such extreme and precise tuning remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate a doping-controlled phase transition from a conventional to a topological superconducting state in the bulk misfit layer compound (LaxPb1-xSe)1.14(NbSe2)2. We reveal a non-monotonic phase diagram characterized by two distinct superconducting regimes separated by a non-superconducting phase at a precise doping. In the highly doped regime, the superconducting phase becomes remarkably sensitive to non-magnetic disorder, and orientation-selective in-gap modes emerge at atomic step edges. Supported by Bogoliubov-de Gennes calculations, these emergent spatial signatures are consistent with a time-reversal-symmetric crystalline-topological order parameter. Our results establish misfit compounds as a platform to engineering topological superconductivity.
ER -