Abstract
Achieving higher upper-critical-field (μ0Hc2(0)) superconductors is of great interest for both fundamental science and practical applications. While reducing the thickness of two-dimensional (2D) bulk crystals to a few layers significantly enhances μ0Hc2(0) with accompanied potential unconventional pairing mechanisms, further dimensional reduction to 1D compounds rarely exceeds the Pauli limit. Here, we report the synthesis of a 1D granular Ta-Te nanowire that becomes superconducting under high pressure, with a maximum critical temperature (Tc) of 5.1 K. The μ0Hc2(0) reaches 16 T, which is twice the Pauli limit. Our proposed strategy may have potential applications in high magnetic fields, and the granular Ta-Te nanowire serves as an ideal platform for further investigations of the mechanisms between dimensionality and μ0Hc2(0).
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Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely acknowledge Prof. Kam Tuen Law and Mr. Tian Xiang for valuable discussions and advices. Y. Q. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52272265) and the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFA1607400). W.-Y.H. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12304200), the BHYJRC Program from the Ministry of Education of China (No. SPST-RC-10), the Shanghai Rising-Star Program (24QA2705400), and the start-up funding from ShanghaiTech University.
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L.X.Z., Y.Z., L.X., and H.Y.Z. performed the experiments with the help of C.Y.P., Q.W., C.H.L, and W.Z.C.. Y.P.Q., W.Y.H., T.P.Y., L.X.Z., and Y.Z. conceived the project. Z.B.Q., X.Z.L., and W.Y.H. provided the theoretical model and the corresponding analysis. L.X.Z., Y.Z., and Z.B.Q. wrote the manuscript with the help of all authors. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the manuscript.
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Communications Physics thanks Soon-Gil Jung and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. [A peer review file is available].
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Zhao, L., Zhao, Y., Qi, ZB. et al. Granular Ta-Te nanowire superconductivity exceeding the Pauli limit. Commun Phys (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02519-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-026-02519-5
