Unraveling the Topological Superconductivity of FeTeSe

非技术描述：这个项目将回答关于一类新的拓扑系统性质的基本问题。重点是feese，这种新状态被认为是拓扑结构和超导性的结合。量子材料的这个新方向预示着对量子特性的探索。尽管如此，它也提出了一个在凝聚态物质中持续存在的挑战，如何独特地识别紧急状态的拓扑性质，这是本提案直接解决的问题。拟议的实验将通过观察自旋轨道耦合、带宽、接触特性、对称性、超导性和拓扑秩序的作用，直接解决这一挑战。该提案包括通过林奇教育学院的城市学校科学教育者计划向K-12传授二维材料和拓扑；通过Skype a Scientist项目直接与K-12学生对话；通过与加拿大广播公司的麦克奈尔和妇女参与科技项目合作，增加妇女、第一代和未被充分代表的少数民族的参与。技术描述：物质的拓扑相，由希尔伯特空间中的不变量定义，是具有挑战性的识别和探测。这些通常通过体边界对应来证明，其中非平凡拓扑产生新的模式。对于超导体中出现的拓扑相，边界模式的非平凡性质很难通过实验来揭示。这些模式在未来的拓扑量子计算中也具有保护量子比特的潜力。越来越多的证据表明，在feese的超导状态中存在这种模式。该项目建立在首席研究员最近提出的feese拓扑边界模式的结果之上。为了理解与批量订单的关系，系统的实验将探索发生这种情况的设备配置和材料参数。此外，拟议的实验有助于让高中和本科阶段的不同参与者参与尖端主题和技术，这些主题和技术对提高他们在STEM中的代表性至关重要。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical description: This project will answer fundamental questions about the properties of a new class of topological systems. The focus is on FeTeSe, where the novel state is believed to emerge from the combination of topology and superconductivity. This new direction in quantum materials promises an exploration of quantum properties. Nonetheless, it also raises an ongoing challenge in condensed matter, directly addressed by this proposal, how to uniquely identify the topological nature of emergent states. Proposed experiments will address this challenge directly by looking at the role of spin-orbit coupling, bandwidth, contact properties, symmetry, superconducting and topological order. The proposal includes informing K-12 about 2D materials and topology via the Lynch School of Education's Science Educators for Urban Schools program; talking directly to K-12 via the Skype a Scientist program; increasing participation of women, first-generation and underrepresented minorities by partnering with BC's McNair, and the Women in Science and Technology programs.Technical description: Topological phases of matter, defined by an invariant in Hilbert space, are challenging to identify and probe. These are typically demonstrated via the bulk-boundary correspondence wherein the nontrivial topology produces new modes. For topological phases emerging in superconductors, the non-trivial nature of the boundary modes is challenging to reveal experimentally. These modes also hold the potential for future protected quantum bits in topological quantum computation. There is mounting evidence for such modes in the superconducting state of FeTeSe. This project builds on the principle investigator’s recent results suggesting a topological boundary mode in FeTeSe. To understand the relationship to the bulk order, systematic experiments will explore the device configurations and material parameters over which this occurs. In addition, the proposed experiments lend themselves to involving a diverse group of participants at the high school and undergraduate level in cutting-edge topics and techniques crucial to improving their representation in STEM.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.