Superconductivity and Strong Non-Fermi-Liquid Behavior in Single-Crystal Ir3Te8

Abstract

We observe superconductivity below a critical temperature TC = 1.8 K in single-crystal Ir3Te8, which also exhibits normal-state diamagnetism and a linear temperature dependence of electrical resistivity for a wide temperature interval, 20 K < T < 700 K. Single-crystal Ir3Te8 also undergoes a structural phase transition at TS = 350 K from a cubic (above TS) to a rhombohedral lattice below TS. Our first-principles electronic structure calculations reveal two bands crossing the Fermi level; despite the three-dimensional lattice, one band is quasi-two-dimensional, and is responsible for the observed diamagnetism and structure transition. The strong non-Fermi-liquid behavior characterized by the observed linearity in resistivity in such a nonmagnetic state suggests novel physics in this newly discovered superconductor.