Layer-dependent study of magneto-transport in 4Hb-TaS2

In the past several years, the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have demonstrated themselves to be a very rich material platform for observing strongly correlated electron physics and quantum phases of matter in the two-dimensional limit. These properties depend on a wide array of parameters, including doping, strength of externally applied fields, and number of layers. Several TMDs also exhibit crystalline polymorphism, with each polymorph demonstrating varying properties. The TMD tantalum (IV) sulfide exhibits several polymorphs which are composed of alternate stacking orders of hexagonal and/or octahedral phases. The base hexagonal phase, 2H-TaS2, is a superconducting material with a transition temperature that is found to increase as the layer number is reduced. The base octahedral phase, 1T-TaS2, is a proposed correlated insulator. The 4Hb phase of TaS2 is composed of alternating layers of each of the hexagonal and octahedral phases, and as such exhibits a hybrid set of properties including superconductivity. Here, I will discuss our work in studying the layer-thickness dependence of the properties of 4Hb-TaS2, using temperature-dependent magneto-transport as the primary probe.