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The layered van der Waals material ZrTe$_5$ is known as a candidate topological insulator (TI), however its topological phase and the relation with other properties such as an apparent Dirac semimetallic state is still a subject of debate. We employ a semiclassical multicarrier transport (MCT) model to analyze the magnetotransport of ZrTe$_5$ nanodevices at hydrostatic pressures up to 2 GPa. The temperature dependence of the MCT results between 10 and 300 K is assessed in the context of thermal activation, and we obtain the positions of conduction and valence band edges in the vicinity of the chemical potential. We find evidence of the closing and re-opening of the band gap with increasing pressure, which is consistent with a phase transition from weak to strong TI. This matches expectations from ab initio band structure calculations, as well as previous observations that CVT-grown ZrTe$_5$ is a weak TI in ambient conditions., Comment: Main Text: 11 pages, 5 figures; Supporting Information: 13 pages, 9 figures

The control of a superconducting current via the application of a gate voltage has been recently demonstrated in a variety of superconducting devices. Although the mechanism underlying this gate-controlled supercurrent (GCS) effect remains under debate, the GCS effect has raised great interest for the development of the superconducting equivalent of conventional metaloxide semiconductor electronics. To date, however, the GCS effect has been mostly observed in superconducting devices made by additive patterning. Here, we show that devices made by subtractive patterning show a systematic absence of the GCS effect. Doing a microstructural analysis of these devices and comparing them to devices made by additive patterning, where we observe a GCS, we identify some material and physical parameters that are crucial for the observation of a GCS. We also show that some of the mechanisms proposed to explain the origin of the GCS effect are not universally relevant., Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2302.13734

In conventional metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) electronics, the logic state of a device is set by a gate voltage (VG). The superconducting equivalent of such effect had remained unknown until it was recently shown that a VG can tune the superconducting current (supercurrent) flowing through a nanoconstriction in a superconductor. This gate-controlled supercurrent (GCS) effect can lead to superconducting logics like CMOS logics, but with lower energy dissipation. The physical mechanism underlying the GCS effect, however, remains under debate. In this review article, we illustrate the main mechanisms proposed for the GCS effect, and the material and device parameters that mostly affect it based on the evidence reported. We will come to the conclusion that different mechanisms are at play in the different studies reported so far. We then outline studies that can help answer open questions on the effect and achieve control over it, which is key for applications. We finally give insights into the impact that the GCS effect can have towards high-performance computing with low-energy dissipation and quantum technologies., Comment: 54 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables

The layered material ZrTe$_5$ appears to exhibit several exotic behaviors which resulted in significant interest recently, although the exact properties are still highly debated. Among these we find a Dirac/Weyl semimetallic behavior, nontrivial spin textures revealed by low temperature transport, and a potential weak or strong topological phase. The anomalous behavior of resistivity has been recently elucidated as originating from band shifting in the electronic structure. Our work examines magnetotransport behavior in ZrTe$_5$ samples in the context of multicarrier transport. The results, in conjunction with ab-initio band structure calculations, indicate that many of the transport features of ZrTe$_5$ across the majority of the temperature range can be adequately explained by the semiclassical multicarrier transport model originating from a complex Fermi surface., Comment: Main Text: 10 pages, 5 figures; Supporting Information: 10 pages, 7 figures