Enhanced superconducting transition temperatures in the rocksalt-type superconductors In1-xSnxTe (x <= 0.5)

We investigate superconductivity in In1-xSnxTe (x <= 0.5) synthesized at high pressures of up to 2 GPa and observe an enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature T-c for increasing tin concentration x. These compounds have not been accessible in rocksalt structure via conventional ambient pressure synthesis. While the lattice constant smoothly increases with x, T-c saturates around x = 0.4. Electronic structure calculations indicate that the Tc modulation is brought on by the change of the density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi energy [N(E-F)]. However, differences between the calculated N(E-F) and the observed electronic specific-heat coefficient indicate that the phonon dispersion plays an important role in the system and that the mechanism of superconductivity may not be the same in the entire doping range.

This is an article published by American Physical Society