Pressure-induced superconductivity in the nonsymmorphic topological insulator KHgAs

Abstract

Recently, topological insulators (TIs) KHgX (X = As, Sb, Bi) with hourglass-shaped dispersion have attracted great interest. Different from the TIs protected by either time-reversal or mirror crystal symmorphic symmetry tested in previous experiments, these materials were proposed as the first material class whose band topology relies on nonsymmorphic symmetries. As a result, KHgX shows many exotic properties, such as hourglass-shaped electronic channels and three-dimensional doubled quantum spin Hall effects. To date, high-pressure experimental studies on these nonsymmorphic TIs are minimal. Here, we carried out high-pressure electrical measurements up to 55 GPa, together with high-pressure X-ray diffraction measurements and high-pressure structure prediction on KHgAs. We found a pressure-induced semiconductor-metal transition between ~16 and 20 GPa, followed by the appearance of superconductivity with a Tc of ~3.5 K at approximately 21 GPa. The superconducting transition temperature was enhanced to a maximum of ~6.6 K at 31.8 GPa and then slowly decreased until 55 GPa. Furthermore, three high-pressure phases within 55 GPa were observed, and their crystal structures were established. Our results showed the high-pressure phase diagram of KHgAs and determined the pressure-induced superconductivity in nonsymmorphic TIs. Thus, our study can be used to facilitate further research on superconductivity and topologically nontrivial features protected by nonsymmorphic symmetries.