76 research outputs found
Fluidity Onset in Graphene
Viscous electron fluids have emerged recently as a new paradigm of
strongly-correlated electron transport in solids. Here we report on a direct
observation of the transition to this long-sought-for state of matter in a
high-mobility electron system in graphene. Unexpectedly, the electron flow is
found to be interaction-dominated but non-hydrodynamic (quasiballistic) in a
wide temperature range, showing signatures of viscous flows only at relatively
high temperatures. The transition between the two regimes is characterized by a
sharp maximum of negative resistance, probed in proximity to the current
injector. The resistance decreases as the system goes deeper into the
hydrodynamic regime. In a perfect darkness-before-daybreak manner, the
interaction-dominated negative response is strongest at the transition to the
quasiballistic regime. Our work provides the first demonstration of how the
viscous fluid behavior emerges in an interacting electron system.Comment: 8pgs, 4fg
Superconductivity in potassium-doped metallic polymorphs of MoS2
Superconducting layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) stand out
among other superconductors due to the tunable nature of the superconducting
transition, coexistence with other collective electronic excitations (charge
density waves) and strong intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. Molybdenum disulphide
(MoS2) is the most studied representative of this family of materials,
especially since the recent demonstration of the possibility to tune its
critical temperature, Tc, by electric-field doping. However, just one of its
polymorphs, band-insulator 2H-MoS2, has so far been explored for its potential
to host superconductivity. We have investigated the possibility to induce
superconductivity in metallic polytypes, 1T- and 1T'-MoS2, by potassium (K)
intercalation. We demonstrate that at doping levels significantly higher than
that required to induce superconductivity in 2H-MoS2, both 1T and 1T' phases
become superconducting, with Tc = 2.8 and 4.6K, respectively. Unusually, K
intercalation in this case is responsible both for the structural and
superconducting phase transitions. By adding new members to the family of
superconducting TMDs our findings open the way to further manipulate and
enhance the electronic properties of these technologically important materials.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures plus 7 supplementary figures in Nano Letters,
November 27, 201
Non-invasive transmission electron microscopy of vacancy defects in graphene produced by ion irradiation
Irradiation with high-energy ions has been widely suggested as a tool to
engineer properties of graphene. Experiments show that it indeed has a strong
effect on its transport, magnetic and mechanical characteristics. However, to
use ion irradiation as an engineering tool requires understanding of the type
and detailed characteristics of the produced defects which is still lacking, as
the use of high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) - the only
technique allowing direct imaging of atomic-scale defects - often modifies or
even creates defects during imaging, thus making it impossible to determine the
intrinsic atomic structure. Here we show that encapsulating the studied
graphene sample between two other (protective) graphene sheets allows
non-invasive HRTEM imaging and reliable identification of atomic-scale defects.
Using this simple technique, we demonstrate that proton irradiation of graphene
produces reconstructed monovacancies, which explains the profound effect that
such defects have on magnetic and transport properties. This finding resolves
the existing uncertainty with regard to the effect of ion irradiation on the
electronic structure of graphene.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures and Supplementary Information (4 supplementary
figures
Magnetoresistance in Co-hBN-NiFe tunnel junctions enhanced by resonant tunneling through single defects in ultrathin hBN barriers
Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is a prototypical high-quality two-dimensional
insulator and an ideal material to study tunneling phenomena, as it can be
easily integrated in vertical van der Waals devices. For spintronic devices,
its potential has been demonstrated both for efficient spin injection in
lateral spin valves and as a barrier in magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs). Here
we reveal the effect of point defects inevitably present in mechanically
exfoliated hBN on the tunnel magnetoresistance of Co-hBN-NiFe MTJs. We observe
a clear enhancement of both the conductance and magnetoresistance of the
junction at well-defined bias voltages, indicating resonant tunneling through
magnetic (spin-polarized) defect states. The spin polarization of the defect
states is attributed to exchange coupling of a paramagnetic impurity in the
few-atomic-layer thick hBN to the ferromagnetic electrodes. This is confirmed
by excellent agreement with theoretical modelling. Our findings should be taken
into account in analyzing tunneling processes in hBN-based magnetic devices.
More generally, our study shows the potential of using atomically thin hBN
barriers with defects to engineer the magnetoresistance of MTJs and to achieve
spin filtering, opening the door towards exploiting the spin degree of freedom
in current studies of point defects as quantum emitters
Unusual suppression of the superconducting energy gap and critical temperature in atomically thin NbSe2
It is well known that superconductivity in thin films is generally suppressed
with decreasing thickness. This suppression is normally governed by either
disorder-induced localization of Cooper pairs, weakening of Coulomb screening,
or generation and unbinding of vortex-antivortex pairs as described by the
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) theory. Defying general expectations,
few-layer NbSe2 - an archetypal example of ultrathin superconductors - has been
found to remain superconducting down to monolayer thickness. Here we report
measurements of both the superconducting energy gap and critical temperature in
high-quality monocrystals of few-layer NbSe2, using planar-junction tunneling
spectroscopy and lateral transport. We observe a fully developed gap that
rapidly reduces for devices with the number of layers N < 5, as does their
ctitical temperature. We show that the observed reduction cannot be explained
by disorder, and the BKT mechanism is also excluded by measuring its transition
temperature that for all N remains very close to Tc. We attribute the observed
behavior to changes in the electronic band structure predicted for mono- and
bi- layer NbSe2 combined with inevitable suppression of the Cooper pair density
at the superconductor-vacuum interface. Our experimental results for N > 2 are
in good agreement with the dependences of the gap and Tc expected in the latter
case while the effect of band-structure reconstruction is evidenced by a
stronger suppression of the gap and the disappearance of its anisotropy for N =
2. The spatial scale involved in the surface suppression of the density of
states is only a few angstroms but cannot be ignored for atomically thin
superconductors.Comment: 21 pages, including supporting informatio
Thermopower in hBN/graphene/hBN superlattices
Thermoelectric effects are highly sensitive to the asymmetry in the density
of states around the Fermi energy and can be exploited as probes of the
electronic structure. We experimentally study thermopower in high-quality
monolayer graphene, within heterostructures consisting of complete hBN
encapsulation and 1D edge contacts, where the graphene and hBN lattices are
aligned. When graphene is aligned to one of the hBN layers, we demonstrate the
presence of additional sign reversals in the thermopower as a function of
carrier density, directly evidencing the presence of the moir\'e superlattice.
We show that the temperature dependence of the thermopower enables the
assessment of the role of built-in strain variation and van Hove singularities
and hints at the presence of Umklapp electron-electron scattering processes. As
the thermopower peaks around the neutrality point, this allows to probe the
energy spectrum degeneracy. Further, when graphene is double-aligned with the
top and bottom hBN crystals, the thermopower exhibits features evidencing
multiple cloned Dirac points caused by the differential super-moir\'e lattice.
For both cases we evaluate how well the thermopower agrees with Mott's
equation. Finally, we show the same superlattice device can exhibit a
temperature-driven thermopower reversal from positive to negative and vice
versa, by controlling the carrier density. The study of thermopower provides an
alternative approach to study the electronic structure of 2D superlattices,
whilst offering opportunities to engineer the thermoelectric response on these
heterostructures.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Magnetization Signature of Topological Surface States in a Non-Symmorphic Superconductor
Superconductors with nontrivial band structure topology represent a class of materials with unconventional and potentially useful properties. Recent years have seen much success in creating artificial hybrid structures exhibiting the main characteristics of 2D topological superconductors. Yet, bulk materials known to combine inherent superconductivity with nontrivial topology remain scarce, largely because distinguishing their central characteristic—the topological surface states—has proved challenging due to a dominant contribution from the superconducting bulk. In this work, a highly anomalous behavior of surface superconductivity in topologically nontrivial 3D superconductor In2Bi, where the surface states result from its nontrivial band structure, itself a consequence of the non-symmorphic crystal symmetry and strong spin–orbit coupling, is reported. In contrast to smoothly decreasing diamagnetic susceptibility above the bulk critical field, Hc2, as seen in conventional superconductors, a near-perfect, Meissner-like screening of low-frequency magnetic fields well above Hc2 is observed. The enhanced diamagnetism disappears at a new phase transition close to the critical field of surface superconductivity, Hc3. Using theoretical modeling, the anomalous screening is shown to be consistent with modification of surface superconductivity by the topological surface states. The possibility of detecting signatures of the surface states using macroscopic magnetization provides a new tool for the discovery and identification of topological superconductor
Magnetization Signature of Topological Surface States in a Non-Symmorphic Superconductor
Superconductors with nontrivial band structure topology represent a class of materials with unconventional and potentially useful properties. Recent years have seen much success in creating artificial hybrid structures exhibiting the main characteristics of 2D topological superconductors. Yet, bulk materials known to combine inherent superconductivity with nontrivial topology remain scarce, largely because distinguishing their central characteristic—the topological surface states—has proved challenging due to a dominant contribution from the superconducting bulk. In this work, a highly anomalous behavior of surface superconductivity in topologically nontrivial 3D superconductor In2Bi, where the surface states result from its nontrivial band structure, itself a consequence of the non-symmorphic crystal symmetry and strong spin–orbit coupling, is reported. In contrast to smoothly decreasing diamagnetic susceptibility above the bulk critical field, Hc2, as seen in conventional superconductors, a near-perfect, Meissner-like screening of low-frequency magnetic fields well above Hc2 is observed. The enhanced diamagnetism disappears at a new phase transition close to the critical field of surface superconductivity, Hc3. Using theoretical modeling, the anomalous screening is shown to be consistent with modification of surface superconductivity by the topological surface states. The possibility of detecting signatures of the surface states using macroscopic magnetization provides a new tool for the discovery and identification of topological superconductor
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