CAREER: Approaching the 1D transport limit in van der Waals nanoribbons

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Non-technical Abstract: Increasingly powerful and sophisticated devices are needed in an ever-smaller package. Ultimately, a transistor of a size of a single molecule, would truly break the current limits of integration. The progress in this direction of research is slowed by lack of promising molecularly thin wire materials, which are required for both stability and functionality. This work focuses on creating chemically stable and electronically functional molecular wires from so-called van der Waals crystals and studying their fundamental properties. Using this approach, the team aims to reveal new transport behavior in one-dimensional material systems and to explore the possibilities of creating electronic devices for the application. Research activities are seamlessly integrated into science education at various levels, including high school, undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, emphasizing on scientific professional development on local underrepresented groups. The PI also builds a comprehensive mentoring system to train undergraduates and graduate students to be the future generations of leaders in science literacy and research.Technical Abstract: This project investigates one-dimensional (1D) transport properties in van der Waals (vdW) nanowire to address critical open questions about transport physics in the 1D limit. VdW nanowires are a new category of 1D material platforms. Their highly anisotropic 1D nature makes them a perfect fit for the study of 1D physics. Fundamental questions to be answered are: 1) How is the power law of conductance manifested in strictly 1D confining vdW nanoribbons? 2) Can the transition between Tomonaga Luttinger liquid (TLL) and 1D Mott insulator be realized in vdW nanoribbons? 3) How does spin-orbit coupling (SOC) modify the transport behavior of TLLs in vdW nanoribbons? 4) Can the temperature range of the Majorana bound state be increased using SOC-enhanced vdW nanoribbons? To address these questions, the research team is conducting the following experiments, centered on vdW nanoribbons: 1) tunneling transport measurements on suspended nanoribbon, 2) momentum resolved spectroscopy on parallel nanoribbons, and 3) detection of the Majorana bound state in semiconducting vdW nanoribbons. This project establishes a new frontier in low-dimensional material research. The pure 1D nature of vdW nanoribbons enables experimental studies in the 1D limit of the single molecular chain. The exploration of critical aspects of 1D electron transport helps to advance the understanding of electron behavior in strictly 1D systems and benefits the theoretical development of 1D transport physics. The measurement methodology proposed in this study applies directly to devices using other novel 1D materials and inspires device research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.