Spectroscopic Measurements of Correlated Electronic States in 4Hb-TaS2


  Yotam Roet [1]  ,  Abhay Kumar Nayak [1]  ,  Aviram Steinbok [1]  ,  Amit Kanigel [2]  ,  Nurit Avraham [1]  ,  Haim Beidenkopf [1]  
[1] Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
[2] Physics Department, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel

The interplay between correlated, insulating electronic states and metallic or superconducting states has attracted considerable attention in condensed matter research. This, as a means of gaining better understanding of electron-electron interaction in solids and of exotic superconducting states. 4Hb TaS2, a transition metal dichalcogenide with alternating 1T-1H layered structure, exhibits such interplay. The 1T structure is insulating when measured in bulk and thought to have a Mott insulating nature. The 2H structure is metallic with a superconducting transition. We measured both the 1T and the 1H terminations as they naturally occur when cleaving 4Hb-TaS2, via scanning tunneling spectroscopy. On the 1H surface we find evidence for superconductivity. On the 1T surface we find non-zero density of states localized on the charge density wave sites, within the energy range that shows an insulating gap in bulk 1T. We further show how the superconducting state of the 1H affects the correlated state of the 1T layer, and vice versa. Our results differ from most current observations of both 1T and 2H Tas2 when measured in bulk, and shed more light on the recent understanding of 4Hb Tas2.