Observation of three superconducting transitions in the pressurized CDW-bearing compound TaTe2

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides host a wide variety of lattice and electronic structures, as well as corresponding exotic physical properties, especially under certain tuning conditions. Here, we report the observation of pressure-induced three superconducting transitions in TaTe2, a charge density wave (CDW)–bearing layered transition-metal dichalcogenide that is metallic but not superconducting at ambient pressure. We find that its CDW state can be easily suppressed upon increasing pressure up to ∼1 GPa. A superconducting state then emerges from the suppressed CDW state and persists to the pressure about 7 GPa. Unexpectedly, another superconducting state appears at ∼11 GPa within the same monoclinic (M) structure of its ambient-pressure one. Upon further compression to 21 GPa, a third superconducting state with higher 𝑇𝑐 appears from a high-pressure (HP) phase. Our experimental results suggest that the pressure-induced three superconducting transitions in TaTe2 are, respectively, driven by the suppression of the CDW state, the change of the β angle in the M phase and the transition of M-to-HP phase. These results demonstrate not only the versatile nature of this correlated electron system, but also the first experimental example that shows the pressure-induced evolution from a CDW state to three superconducting states driven by different mechanisms.