Ultrasound Evidence for a Low-Temperature Anomaly Inside the Superconducting State of 4Hb-TaS$_2$

Abstract

We report low-temperature ultrasound measurements on single crystals of the layered van der Waals superconductor 4Hb-TaS$_2$. Specific heat and ac magnetic susceptibility show a sharp bulk superconducting transition at $T_{\rm c}\approx 2.9$~K. Ultrasound measurements reveal an additional anomaly deep inside the superconducting state near $T^{*}\approx 1$~K. The most direct signature is observed in the relative ultrasonic attenuation change $Δα$: instead of being rapidly suppressed at $T_{\rm c}$, $Δα$ remains large throughout the intermediate superconducting regime and drops strongly only near $T^{*}$. This loss of acoustic dissipation is accompanied by a pronounced anomaly in the relative sound velocity change $Δv/v$, indicating strong coupling to the lattice. The low-temperature anomaly is rapidly suppressed by magnetic field and by Se substitution, suggesting a possible superconducting origin of the anomaly. We speculate that this feature may be related to induced superconductivity in the 1T layers.