Current driven vortex-antivortex pair breaking and vortex explosion in the Bi2Te3/FeTe interfacial superconductor

We investigated the dissipative regime of the Bi2Te3/FeTe topological insulator-chalcogenide interface superconductor at temperatures well below the Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. We observe a transition in the current-resistance and temperature-resistance curves that quantitatively agrees with the Likharev vortex-explosion phenomenon. In the limit of low temperatures and high current densities, we were able to demonstrate the regime of complete vortex-antivortex dissociation arising from current driven vortex-antivortex pair breaking.