Anisotropic superconducting property studies of single crystal PbTaSe2.

The anisotropic superconducting properties of PbTaSe2 single crystal is reported. Superconductivity with T c  =  3.83  ±  0.02 K has been characterized fully with electrical resistivity ρ(T), magnetic susceptibility χ(T), and specific heat C p (T) measurements using single crystal samples. The superconductivity is type-II with lower critical field H c1 and upper critical field H c2 of 65 and 450 Oe (H⊥  to the ab-plane), 140 and 1500 Oe (H|| to the ab-plane), respectively. These results indicate that the superconductivity of PbTaSe2 is anisotropic. The superconducting anisotropy, electron-phonon coupling λ ep, superconducting energy gap Δ0, and the specific heat jump ΔC/γT c at T c confirms that PbTaSe2 can be categorized as a bulk superconductor.