Graphene holds great potential for superconductivity due to its pure two-dimensional nature, the ability to tune its carrier density through electrostatic gating, and its unique, relativistic-like electronic properties. At present, we are still far from controlling and understanding graphene superconductivity, mainly because the selective introduction of superconducting properties to graphene is experimentally very challenging. Here, we have developed a method that enables shaping at will graphene superconductivity through a precise control of graphene-superconductor junctions. The method combines the proximity effect with scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) manipulation capabilities. We first grow Pb nano-islands that locally induce superconductivity in graphene. Using a STM, Pb nano-islands can be selectively displaced, over different types of graphene surfaces, with nanometre scale precision, in any direction, over distances of hundreds of nanometres. This opens an exciting playground where a large number of predefined graphene-superconductor hybrid structures can be investigated with atomic scale precision. To illustrate the potential, we perform a series of experiments, rationalized by the quasi-classical theory of superconductivity, going from the fundamental understanding of superconductor-graphene-superconductor heterostructures to the construction of superconductor nanocorrals, further used as "portable" experimental probes of local magnetic moments in graphene.
We report muon spin rotation (muSR) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy experiments on underdoped BaFe1.89Co0.11As2 which show that bulk magnetism and superconductivity (SC) coexist and compete on the nanometer length scale. Our combined data reveal a bulk magnetic order, likely due to an incommensurate spin density wave (SDW), which develops below Tmag \approx 32 K and becomes reduced in magnitude (but not in volume) below Tc = 21.7 K. A slowly fluctuating precursor of the SDW seems to develop alrady below the structural transition at Ts \approx 50 K. The bulk nature of SC is established by the mu…
Considering $CuO_{2}$ conducting layers present in high Tc superconductors as plasma sheets, we proposed a prescription for the $T_{c}$ pressure behavior taken into account the Casimir effect. The Casimir energy arises from these parallel plasma sheets (Cu-O planes) when it take placed in the regime of nanometer scale (small \textit{d} distance). The charge reservoir layer supplies carries to the conducting $nCuO_{2}$ layers, which are a source of superconductivity. The pressure induced charge transfer model (PICTM) makes use of an intrinsic term, which description is still unclear. Considerin…
We report on spatial measurements of the superconducting proximity effect in epitaxial graphene induced by a graphene-superconductor interface. Superconducting aluminum films were grown on epitaxial multilayer graphene on SiC. The aluminum films were discontinuous with networks of trenches in the film morphology reaching down to exposed graphene terraces. Scanning tunneling spectra measured on the graphene terraces show a clear decay of the superconducting energy gap with increasing separation from the graphene-aluminum edges. The spectra were well described by Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) …
Superconductivity results from a Bose condensate of Cooper-paired electrons with a macroscopic quantum wavefunction. Dramatic effects can occur when the region of the condensate is shaped and confined to the nanometer scale. Recent progress in nanostructured superconductors has revealed a route to topological superconductivity, with possible applications in quantum computing. However, challenges remain in controlling the shape and size of specific superconducting materials. Here, we report a new method to create nanostructured superconductors by partial crystallization of the half-Heusler mate…
We report a unique experimental approach to create topological superconductors by inducing superconductivity into epitaxial metallic thin film with strong spin-orbit coupling. Utilizing molecular beam epitaxy technique under ultra-high vacuum condition, we are able to achieve (111) oriented single phase of gold (Au) thin film grown on a well-oriented vanadium (V) s-wave superconductor film with clean interface. We obtained atomically smooth Au thin films with thicknesses even down to below a nanometer showing near-ideal surface quality. The as-grown V/Au bilayer heterostructure exhibits superc…
The carrier density in tens of nanometers thick graphite samples (multi-layer-graphene, MLG) has been modified by applying a gate voltage ($V_g$) perpendicular to the graphene planes. Surface potential microscopy shows inhomogeneities in the carrier density ($n$) in the sample near surface region and under different values of $V_g$ at room temperature. Transport measurements on different MLG samples reveal that under a large enough applied electric field these regions undergo a superconducting-like transition at $T \lesssim 17$ K. A magnetic field applied parallel or normal to the graphene lay…
High-temperature (high-Tc) superconductivity in the copper oxides arises from electron or hole doping of their antiferromagnetic (AF) insulating parent compounds. The evolution of the AF phase with doping and its spatial coexistence with superconductivity are governed by the nature of charge and spin correlations and provide clues to the mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity. Here we use a combined neutron scattering and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) to study the Tc evolution of electron-doped superconducting Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4-delta obtained through the oxygen annealing process. We f…
Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements are performed on the ferromagnetic superconductor EuFe$_{2}$(As$_{0.8}$P$_{0.2}$)$_{2}$ ($T\rm_{sc}=22.5\,$K) to probe the delicate interplay between ferromagnetism and superconductivity. A clear signature of large ferromagnetic domains is found below the ferromagnetic ordering temperature $T\rm_{C}$ = 18.5 K. In a small temperature interval of $\sim$ 1.5 K below $T\rm_{C}$, additional SANS signal is observed, of which the indirect Fourier transform reveals characteristic length scales in between $\sim$ 80 nm to $\sim$ 160 nm. These nanometer-…
Using Indium on Si(111) as an atomically thin superconductor platform, and by systematically controlling the density of nano-hole defects (nanometer size voids), we reveal the impacts of defects density and defects geometric arrangements on superconductivity at macroscopic and microscopic length scales. When nano-hole defects are uniformly dispersed in the atomic layer, the superfluid density monotonically decreases as a function of defect density (from 0.7% to 5% of the surface area) with minor change in the transition temperature Tc, measured both microscopically and macroscopically. With a …
Maximizing the sustainable supercurrent density, Jc, is crucial to high current applications of superconductivity and, to achieve this, preventing dissipative motion of quantized vortices is key. Irradiation of superconductors with high-energy heavy ions can be used to create nanoscale defects that act as deep pinning potentials for vortices. This approach holds unique promise for high current applications of iron-based superconductors because Jc amplification persists to much higher radiation doses than in cuprate superconductors without significantly altering the superconducting critical tem…
We studied the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) like state establishing due to the proximity effect in superconducting Nb/Cu41Ni59 bilayers. Using a special wedge-type deposition technique, series of 20-35 samples could be fabricated by magnetron sputtering during one run. The layer thickness of only a few nanometers, the composition of the alloy, and the quality of interfaces were controlled by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and Auger spectroscopy. The magnetic properties of the ferromagnetic alloy layer were characterized with…
Recent observation of a "kink" in single-particle dispersion in photoemission experiments on cuprate superconductors has initiated a heated debate over the issue of a boson that mediates the pairing in cuprates. If the "kink" is indeed caused by interaction with a bosonic excitation, then there are two possible candidates: phonons and spin fluctuations. Here, the role of anti-ferromagnetic spin fluctuations in shaping the phase diagram of cuprate superconductors will be discussed. By using the local (momentum-integrated) dynamic spin susceptibility, recently measured in neutron scattering expe…
Degenerate monolayer Ising superconductors via chiral-achiral molecule intercalation
CIC nanoGUNE（纳米技术联合研究中心）；Departamento de Polímeros y Materiales Avanzados: Física, Química y Tecnología, Facultad de Químicas (EHU)（巴斯克大学化学学院先进聚合物与材料系）；Universidad del País Vasco (EHU)（巴斯克大学）；Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA) CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza（阿拉贡纳米科学与材料研究所）；Laboratorio de Microscopías Avanzadas (LMA), Universidad de Zaragoza（萨拉戈萨大学先进显微镜实验室）；Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)（圣塞巴斯蒂安国际物理中心）；Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science（伊克尔巴斯基奎基金会）
Superconductivity is commonly described as a macroscopic quantum phenomenon. However, it arises from microscopic mechanisms occurring at the nanometer scale as illustrated, for example, by the non-trivial pairing in unconventional superconductors. More recently, also local interactions with superconductors in the context of Majorana fermions became of interest. A very direct way to study the atomic scale properties of superconductors is given by the combination of the Josephson effect with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), also referred to as JSTM. Here, the critical Josephson current serve…
Recent experiments have shown that proximity with high-temperature superconductors induces unconventional superconducting correlations in graphene. Here we demonstrate that those correlations propagate hundreds of nanometer, allowing for the unique observation of $d$-wave Andreev pair interferences in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$-graphene devices that behave as a Fabry-Pérot cavity. The interferences show as a series of pronounced conductance oscillations analogous to those originally predicted by de Gennes--Saint-James for conventional metal-superconductor junctions. The present work is pivotal to the …
The electron-phonon interaction is of central importance for the electrical and thermal properties of solids, and its influence on superconductivity, colossal magnetoresistance, and other many-body phenomena in correlated-electron materials is currently the subject of intense research. However, the non-local nature of the interactions between valence electrons and lattice ions, often compounded by a plethora of vibrational modes, present formidable challenges for attempts to experimentally control and theoretically describe the physical properties of complex materials. Here we report a Raman s…
