We report on an intricate competition between charge density wave (CDW) formation and superconductivity under pressure up to 11 GPa in the low-dimensional conductor ${\mathrm{ZrTe}}_3$. As pressure increases, the CDW transition temperature $T_{\mathrm{CDW}}$ initially increases, then begins to decrease at 2 GPa and abruptly disappears near 5 GPa. On the other hand, while the superconducting transition temperature $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ falls to below 1.2 K at $\sim 0.5\mathrm{GPa}$ and is not observed at up to 5 GPa above 2.5 K, a superconducting transition emerges beginning at $\sim 5\mathrm{GPa}$ and $T_{\mathrm{C}}$ increases steeply up to 11 GPa. This is an observation of pressure-induced reentrant superconductivity. The results are discussed in terms of the change in the reduced area of the Fermi surface due to CDW formation.

• Received 4 November 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.71.132508