Hard Superconducting Gap in Pb Te Nanowires

Semiconductor nanowires coupled to a superconductor provide a powerful testbed for quantum device physics such as Majorana zero modes and gate-tunable hybrid qubits.The performance of these quantum devices heavily relies on the quality of the induced superconducting gap.A hard gap.

Experimental Realization of an Intrinsic Magnetic Topological Insulator

An intrinsic magnetic topological insulator(TI) is a stoichiometric magnetic compound possessing both inherent magnetic order and topological electronic states. Such a material can provide a shortcut to various novel topological quantum effects but remained elusive experimentally for a long time. Here we report the experimental realization of thin films of an intrinsic magnetic TI, MnBi2Te4, by alternate growth of a Bi2Te3 quintuple layer and a MnTe bilayer with molecular beam epitaxy. The material shows the archetypical Dirac surface states in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and is demonstrated to be an antiferromagnetic topological insulator with ferromagnetic surfaces by magnetic and transport measurements as well as first-principles calculations. The unique magnetic and topological electronic structures and their interplays enable the material to embody rich quantum phases such as quantum anomalous Hall insulators and axion insulators at higher temperature and in a well-controlled way.

Experimental observation of pseudogap in a modulation-doped Mott insulator:Sn/Si(111)-(√3×√3)R30°

Unusual quantum phenomena usually emerge upon doping Mott insulators.Using a molecular beam epitaxy system integrated with cryogenic sc√annin√g tunneling microscope,we investigate the electronic structure of a modulation-doped Mott insulator Sn/Si(111)-(√3×√3)R30°.In underdoped regions,we observe a universal pseudogap opening around the Fermi level,which changes little with the applied magnetic field and the occurrence of Sn vacancies.The pseudogap gets smeared out at elevated temperatures and alters in size with the spatial confinement of the Mott insulating phase.Our findings,along with the previously observed superconductivity at a higher doping level,are highly reminiscent of the electronic phase diagram in the doped copper oxide compounds.

Gate Tunable Supercurrent in Josephson Junctions Based on Bi_(2)Te_(3) Topological Insulator Thin Films

We report transport measurements on Josephson junctions consisting of Bi_(2)Te_(3) topological insulator(TI)thin films contacted by superconducting Nb electrodes.For a device with junction length L=134 nm,the critical supercurrent Ic can be modulated by an electrical gate which tunes the carrier type and density of the TI film.Ic can reach a minimum when the TI is near the charge neutrality regime with the Fermi energy lying close to the Dirac point of the surface state.In the p-type regime the Josephson current can be well described by a short ballistic junction model.In the n-type regime the junction is ballistic at 0.7 K<T<3.8 K while for T<0.7 K the diffusive bulk modes emerge and contribute a larger Ic than the ballistic model.We attribute the lack of diffusive bulk modes in the p-type regime to the formation of p-n junctions.Our work provides new clues for search of Majorana zero mode in TI-based superconducting devices.

Honeycomb Lattice in Metal-Rich Chalcogenide Fe_(2)Te

Two-dimensional honeycomb crystals have inspired intense research interest for their novel properties and great potential in electronics and optoelectronics. Here, through molecular beam epitaxy on SrTiO_3(001), we report successful epitaxial growth of metal-rich chalcogenide Fe_(2)Te, a honeycomb-structured film that has no direct bulk analogue, under Te-limited growth conditions. The structural morphology and electronic properties of Fe_(2)Te are explored with scanning tunneling microscopy and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which reveal electronic bands cross the Fermi level and nearly flat bands. Moreover, we find a weak interfacial interaction between Fe_(2)Te and the underlying substrates, paving a newly developed alternative avenue for honeycomb-based electronic devices.

Observation of Coulomb Gap and Enhanced Superconducting Gap in Nano-Sized Pb Islands Grown on SrTiO3

We report high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy(STM)study of nano-sized Pb islands grown on SrTiO3,where three distinct types of gaps with different energy scales are revealed.At low temperature,we find that the superconducting gap(△s)in nano-sized Pb islands is significantly enhanced from the one in bulk Pb,while there is no essential change in superconducting transition temperature Tc,giving rise to a larger BCS ratio 2△s/kBTc^8.31 and implying stronger electron-phonon coupling.The stronger coupling can originate from the interface electron-phonon interactions between Pb islands and SrTiO3.As the superconducting gap is totally suppressed under applied magnetic field,the Coulomb gap with apparent V-shape emerges.Moreover,the size of Coulomb gap(Ac)depends on the lateral size of Pb islands(R)with △c-1/R^035,indicating that quantum size effect can significantly influence electronic correlations.Our experimental results shall shed important light on the interplay among superconductivity,quantum size effect and correlations in nano-sized strong-coupling superconductors.

Observation of Tunneling Gap in Epitaxial Ultrathin Films of Pyrite-Type Copper Disulfide

We report scanning tunneling microscopy investigation on epitaxial ultrathin films of pyrite-type copper disulfide.Layer-by-layer growth of CuS_(2)films with a preferential orientation of(111)on SrTiO_(3)(001)and Bi_(2)Sr_(2)Ca Cu_(2)O_(8+)substrates is achieved by molecular beam epitaxy growth.For ultrathin films on both kinds of substrates,we observe symmetric tunneling gap around the Fermi level that persists up to^15 K.The tunneling gap degrades with either increasing temperature or increasing thickness,suggesting new matter states at the extreme twodimensional limit.

K_(3)C_(60)表面量子自旋诱导的YSR多重态和量子相变

Magnetic impurities in superconductors are of increasing interest due to emergent Yu-Shiba-Rusinov(YSR)states and Majorana zero modes for fault-tolerant quantum computation.However,a direct relationship between the YSR multiple states and magnetic anisotropy splitting of quantum impurity spins remains poorly characterized.By using scanning tunneling microscopy,we systematically resolve individual transition-metal(Fe,Cr,and Ni)impurities induced YSR multiplets as well as their Zeeman effects in the K_(3)C_(60)superconductor.The YSR multiplets show identical d orbital-like wave functions that are symmetry-mismatched to the threefold K_(3)C_(60)(111)host surface,breaking point-group symmetries of the spatial distribution of YSR bound states in real space.Remarkably,we identify an unprecedented fermion-parity-preserving quantum phase transition between ground states with opposite signs of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy that can be manipulated by an external magnetic field.These findings can be readily understood in terms of anisotropy splitting of quantum impurity spins,and thus elucidate the intricate interplay between the magnetic anisotropy and YSR multiplets.

Nodeless pairing in superconducting copper-oxide monolayer films on BieSreCaCueO8＋δ

The pairing mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates remains the biggest unresolved mystery in condensed matter physics. To solve the problem, one of the most effective approaches is to investigate directly the superconducting CuO2 layers. Here, by growing CuO2 monolayer films on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8＋δ substrates, we identify two distinct and spatially separated energy gaps centered at the Fermi energy, a smaller U-like gap and a larger V-like gap on the films, and study their interactions with alien atoms by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. The newly discovered U-like gap exhibits strong phase coherence and is immune to scattering by K, Cs and Ag atoms, suggesting its nature as a nodeless superconducting gap in the CuO2 layers, whereas the V-like gap agrees with the well-known pseudogap state in the underdoped regime. Our results support an s-wave superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8＋δ, which, we pro- pose, originates from the modulation-doping resultant twodimensional hole liquid confined in the CuO2 layers.

Superconductivity above 28K in single unit cell FeSe ?lms interfaced with GaO_(2-δ) layer on NdGaO_3(110)

The discovery of high temperature superconductivity in single unit cell(UC)FeSe on TiO2-δterminated perovskite SrTiO3(001)substrates[1]has attracted intensive attention on searching for new superconducting systems with engineered interfaces as well as understanding the mechanism of interface high temperature superconductivity.

Experimental signature of topological superconductivity and Majorana zero modes on β-Bi2Pd thin films

The search for Majorana fermions in topological superconductors is one of paramount research targets in physics today. Using a cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy, we here report the signature of topologically nontrivial superconductivity on a single material of β-Bi_2Pd films grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The superconducting gap associated with spinless odd-parity pairing opens on the surface and appears much larger than the bulk one due to the Dirac-fermion enhanced parity mixing of surface pair potential. Zero bias conductance peaks, probably from Majorana zero modes supported by such superconducting states, are identified at magnetic vortices. The superconductivity exhibits resistance to nonmagnetic defects, characteristic of time-reversal-invariant topological superconductors. Our study reveals β-Bi_2Pd as a prime platform to generate, manipulate and braid Majorana zero modes for quantum computation.

Topological dynamical decoupling

We show that topological equivalence classes of circles in a two-dimensional square lattice can be used to design dynamical decoupling procedures to protect qubits attached on the edges of the lattice. Based on the circles of the topologically trivial class in the original and the dual lattices, we devise a procedure which removes all kinds of local Hamiltonians from the dynamics of the qubits while keeping information stored in the homological degrees of freedom unchanged. If only the linearly independent interaction and nearest-neighbor two-qubit interactions are concerned, a much simpler procedure which involves the four equivalence classes of circles can be designed. This procedure is compatible with Eulerian and concatenated dynamical decouplings,which make it possible to implement the procedure with bounded-strength controls and for a long time period. As an application,it is shown that our method can be directly generalized to finite square lattices to suppress uncorrectable errors in surface codes.

Interface enhanced superconductivity in monolayer FeSe films on MgO(001):charge transfer with atomic substitution

Interface enhanced superconductivity over 50 K has been discovered in monolayer Fe Se films grown on several TiO_2-terminated oxide substrates.Whether such phenomenon exists in other oxide substrates remains an extremely interesting topic.Here we report enhanced superconductivity with an onset transition temperature of 18 K in monolayer Fe Se on Mg O(001) substrate by transport measurement.Scanning transmission electron microscopy investigation on the interface structure indicates that Fe Se films grow epitaxially on Mg O(001) and that overlayer Fe atoms diffuse into the top two layers of Mg O and substitute Mg atoms.Our density functional theory calculations reveal that this substitution promotes the charge transfer from the Mg O substrate to the Fe Se films,an essential process that also occurs in monolayer Fe Se on TiO_2-terminated oxides and contributes to the enhanced superconductivity therein.Our finding suggests that superconductivity enhancement in monolayer Fe Se films on oxides substrates is rather general as long as charge transfer is allowed at the interface,thus pointing out an explicit direction for searching for new high temperature superconductivity by interface engineering.

Scanning tunneling microscopic observation of enhanced superconductivity in epitaxial Sn islands grown on SrTiO3 substrate

Recent experimental and theoretical studies of single-layer FeSe film grown on SrTiO_3 have revealed interface enhanced superconductivity, which opens up a pathway to promote the superconducting transition temperature. Here, to investigate the role of SrTiO_3 substrate in epitaxial superconducting film, we grew a conventional superconductor b-Sn(bulk T_c～ 3.72 K) onto SrTiO_3 substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. By employing scanning tunneling microscope and spectroscopic measurements, an enhanced Tcof 8.2 K is found for epitaxial b-Sn islands, deduced by fitting the temperature dependence of the gap values using the BCS formula. The observed interfacial charge injection and enhanced electron–phonon coupling are responsible for this Tcenhancement. Moreover, the critical field of 8.3 T exhibits a tremendous increase due to the suppression of the vortex formation. Therefore, the coexistence of enhanced superconductivity and high critical field of Sn islands demonstrates a feasible and effective route to improve the superconductivity by growing the islands of conventional superconductors on perovskite-type titanium oxide substrates.

Obtaining tetragonal FeAs layer and superconducting K_(x)Fe_(2)As_(2)by molecular beam epitaxy

Atomic characterization on tetragonal FeAs layer and engineering FeAs superlattices is highly desirable to get deep insight into the multi-band superconductivity in iron-pnictides.We fabricate the tetragonal FeAs layer by topotactic reaction of FeTe films with arsenic and then obtain KxFe_(2)As_(2)upon potassium intercalation using molecular beam epitaxy.The in-situ low-temperature√2×√2scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy investigations demonstrate characteristic reconstruction of the FeAs layer and stripe pattern of KxFe_(2)As_(2),accompanied by the development of a superconducting-like gap.The ex-situ transport measurement with FeTe capping layers shows a superconducting transition with an onset temperature of 10 K.This work provides a promising way to characterize the FeAs layer directly and explore rich emergent physics with epitaxial superlattice design.

Preparation of spatially uniform monolayer FeSexTe1−x(0

Spatially uniform high-temperature superconducting films are highly desirable for exploring novel properties and popularizing applications.To improve the uniformity,we fabricate monolayer FeSexTe1−x(0<x≤1)films on SrTiO3(001)by topotactic reaction of monolayer FeTe films with selenium.Using in situ low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy,we demonstrate atomic-level uniformity of element distribution and well-defined superconducting gaps of~15 meV in FeSexTe1−x films.In particular,the monolayer FeSe films exhibit fewer line defects and higher superfluid density as evidenced by sharper coherence peaks than those prepared by the co-evaporation method.Our results provide a promising way to optimize sample quality and lay a foundation for studying new physics and drawing reliable conclusions.

Simultaneous switching of supramolecular chirality and organizational chirality driven by Coulomb expansion

Chiral switching is a fascinating topic and plays an important role in construction of homochirality.Nevertheless,due to the complexity and flexibility of noncovalent interactions,switching the chirality of entire supramolecular assemblies has hitherto remained a challenge.Here we report the electric field-controlled chirality switching of pentacene pinwheel arrays and two-dimensional(2D)network domains.Pentacene molecules on Cd(0001)surface form the porous network structure with building blocks of hexamer pinwheels.Driven by the electric field from a scanning tunneling microscopy(STM)tip,the supramolecular chirality of pentacene pinwheels and the organizational chirality of entire network domains can be simultaneously switched from one enantiomorph to another.Furthermore,such chiral switching is reversible and repeatable under successive voltage pulses.First-principles calculations demonstrate that electric field significantly modulates the interfacial charge transfer and induces the Coulomb expansion of pentacene layers,and the subsequent reaggregation leads to the chiral flipping of the supramolecular pinwheels and 2D domains.Our results provide a new strategy for dynamic control of the 2D chiral structures and help to steer the supramolecular assembly toward homochirality.