Proximity Effect of Antiferromagnetic Material on FeSeTe Superconductor

We explore the proximity effect of 2D antiferromagnetic (AFM) MnPS₃ on an exfoliated superconducting sample. First, we characterized a FeSeTe (FST) superconducting sample and then placed the AFM layer on top of the exfoliated FeSeTe. The superconducting transition temperature <i>T</i>_c^zero increased marginally for the AFM/FST sample, while we found a significant improvement in the upper critical field (<i>B</i>_<i>c</i>2) for the AFM/FST sample. We extracted <i>B</i>_<i>c</i>2 from electrical resistivity measurements under different magnetic fields in the <i>B</i>//<i>c</i> and <i>B</i>//<i>ab</i> plane. The thermal activation energy and its power law relation for low temperatures were studied using ρ(<i>T</i>) vs <i>B</i> data. The thermally activated flux flow effect is observed, resulting in a noticeable increase in the in-plane critical field. Moreover, the vortex glass transition does not exhibit any notable differences among the samples. The Hall effect shows a sign change from negative to positive below 150 K for AFM/FST, which suggests that two types of carriers mediated the transport due to the proximity effect. A considerable decrease in the critical current <i>I</i>_c is also observed. The two steps in the IV curves suggest possible quantum phase slips, which are more vital for the AFM/FST device.