Granular Ta-Te nanowire superconductivity exceeding the Pauli limit

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). Realization of higher superconducting upper critical field is an important pursuit in both fundamental science and practical applications. Here, the authors synthesize Ta-Te nanowires, which significantly surpass the Pauli paramagnetic limit (the conventional upper bound of critical field) under high pressure.