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MRSEC Seminar: Superconductivity in a single atomic layer of metal

Kin Fai Mak, Cornell University
Tuesday, April 24, 2018 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
PAT C-520

The discovery of graphene has stimulated not only the field of carbon nanoelectronics, but also studies of novel electronic phenomena in a wide range of atomically thin van der Waals’ materials. In this talk, I will discuss our recent effort in the isolation of a single layer of niobium diselenide (NbSe 2 ), a new non-centrosymmetric superconductor. As a result of the crystal symmetry and the strong spin-orbit interactions, the electron spin in single-layer NbSe 2 becomes Ising-like (i.e. spins locked to the out-of- plane direction), giving rise to unique magnetic properties in the superconducting state. I will present measurements of the material’s upper critical field, which significantly exceeds the conventional Pauli paramagnetic limit, supporting the Ising pairing mechanism. I will also discuss our measurements of the superconducting gap by tunneling experiments that provide evidence for finite spin susceptibility arisen from spin-triplet pairing correlations. Our studies pave the path for exploring topological superconductivity in two-dimensional materials.

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