Tuning the competition between superconductivity and charge order in kagome superconductor Cs(V1-xNbx)3Sb5

Abstract

The recently discovered coexistence of superconductivity and charge density wave order in the kagome systems AV3Sb5 (A = K, Rb, Cs) has stimulated enormous interest. According to theory, a vanadium-based kagome system may host a flat band, nontrivial linear dispersive Dirac surface states and electronic correlation. Despite intensive investigations, it remains controversial about the origin of the charge density wave (CDW) order, how does the superconductivity relate to the CDW, and whether the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) arises primarily from the kagome lattice or the CDW order. We report an extensive investigation on Cs(V1-xNbx)3Sb5 samples with systematic Nb doping. Our results show that the Nb doping induces apparent suppression of CDW order and promotes superconductivity; meanwhile, the AHE and magnetoresistance (MR) will be significantly weakened together with the CDW order. Combining with our density functional calculations, we interpret these effects by an antiphase shift of the Fermi energy with respect to the saddle points near M and the Fermi surface centered around Γ. It is found that the former depletes the filled states for the CDW instability and worsens the nesting condition for CDW order; while the latter lifts the Fermi level upward and enlarges the Fermi surface surrounding the Γ point, and thus promotes superconductivity. Our results uncover a delicate but unusual competition between the CDW order and superconductivity.