Enhanced superconductivity in bilayer PtTe 2 by alkali-metal intercalations

Layered platinum tellurium $(\mathrm{Pt}{\mathrm{Te}}_{2})$ was recently synthesized with controllable layer numbers down to a monolayer limit. Using ab initio calculations based on anisotropic Midgal-Eliashberg formalism, we show that by rubidium (Rb) intercalation, weak superconductivity in bilayer $\mathrm{Pt}{\mathrm{Te}}_{2}$ can be significantly boosted with superconducting ${T}_{\text{c}}=8$ K in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The intercalant on one hand mediates the interlayer coupling and serves as an electron donor, leading to large density of states at Fermi energy. On the other hand, it increases the mass-enhancement parameter with electron-phonon coupling strength comparable to that of Pt. The potassium intercalated bilayer $\mathrm{Pt}{\mathrm{Te}}_{2}$ has a comparable ${T}_{\text{c}}$ to the case of Rb intercalation. The relatively high ${T}_{\text{c}}$ with SOC combined with experimental accessible crystal structures suggest that these superconductors are promising platforms to study the novel quantum physics associated with two-dimensional superconductivity, such as the recently proposed type-II Ising superconductivity.