Growth & Spectroscopic Imaging of Interface Superconductivity

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Superconductivity lies at the heart of multiple technologies including medical imaging, energy management, and powerful new forms of computing. Expansion of these technologies from niche applications to worldwide advances will require new material development. My research team and I will build on my successful track record in the study of bulk superconductors, to address the emerging frontier of interface superconductivity. We will combine molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and scanning probe microscopy to create, understand, and control superconducting interfaces at the atomic scale. We will consider three types of interfaces: iron-based superconductors, cuprate superconductors, and topological superconductors.      First, my students and I will explore the remarkable ten-fold enhancement of superconducting transition temperature (Tc) recently reported in single-layer FeSe films on SrTiO3. Second, we will pursue a parallel search for enhanced interface superconductivity in cuprates, where the bulk Tcs are higher, suggesting greater improvements to come. We will use a novel hybrid organic growth technique to improve cuprate film quality – thus launching a film growth facility which would be unique in Canada. My long term goal in both iron- and copper-based materials is to use atomic resolution imaging to increase the fundamental understanding, and guide our MBE efforts to pair other materials, to further enhance Tc.      Third, we will investigate the emerging frontier of topological superconductors. The recent discovery of topological materials with robust, spin polarized surface states prompted numerous ideas for revolutionary applications, including fault-tolerant quantum computing enabled by topological superconductivity. We will grow topological films on a variety of superconductors, and employ magnetic-field-dependent imaging to search for key signatures of the predicted new phase of matter.      Our thorough investigation of interface superconductivity, including cuprates, iron-based superconductors, and topological materials, will build upon existing collaborations with other Canadian researchers. Our growth of new materials will prompt new collaborations with experimentalists whose characterization capabilities are complementary to our own. Finally, the research in this forefront area of materials science and physics will provide excellent training for my students and postdocs, and extend the fundamental understanding necessary to launch significant applications in computing, energy, and medical industries.