Magnetotransport studies of interfacial interactions in van der Waals structures

• Applicant: Dr. Jurgen H. Smet
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 443361625

This project intends to explore the impact interfacial interactions can have on quantum phases that appear in 2D materials using magneto-transport as the primary probe. Two different types of van der Waals heterostructures, on which preliminary work has been performed, will be explored. Heterostructures will either have superconducting NbSe2 of varying thickness or magic angle twisted bilayer graphene as the main constituent. Either of these is then proximitized with some other 2D material in order to investigate how the superconducting phase or other interaction and correlation induced ground states that appear in these systems are affected or modified. For NbSe2 we will systematically explore a series of van der Waals heterostructures where the extra 2D material causes for instance a different degree of charge transfer at the interface, has unusual magnetic properties or is known to exhibit charge density wave physics. The difference in the work function will initially serve as the main criterion to select particular proximitizing 2D materials. For twisted bilayer graphene, RuCl3, a Kitaev quantum spin liquid contender with rich magnetic properties, will serve as the 2D material brought into proximity.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2244: 2D Materials – Physics of van der Waals [hetero]structures (2DMP)