Physics Club January 22, 2024

Andrea Damascelli, Quantum Matter Institute, UBC - “Quantum Materials by Design”
In most materials, electrons move around and scatter essentially independently of one another. In quantum materials, in contrast, electrons engage in highly correlated motions that resemble a complex dance. This gives rise to a wide range of astonishing electronic and magnetic properties that evoke the most profound questions challenging the field of condensed matter physics.
Research at the Quantum Matter Institute (QMI) at UBC seeks to unravel and exploit the complex phenomena that emerge in novel engineered materials - not only as a result of these strong electronic correlations, but also from other sources of extraordinary behavior, such as topological states or physical structures created artificially at the atomic scale.
In this talk, I will provide an overview of the ongoing Quantum Materials by Design effort at QMI, ranging from designing novel quantum phases in graphene via adatom decoration and strain engineering [1-3], to the possible realization of high-temperature topological superconductivity in twisted monolayer-thin layers of d-wave copper oxides [4].
[1] B.M. Ludbrook et al., Evidence for superconductivity in Li-decorated monolayer graphene, PNAS 112, 11795 (2015)
[2] A.C. Qu et al., Ubiquitous defect-induced density wave instability in monolayer graphene, Science Advances 8, eabm5180 (2022).
[3] P. Nigge et al., Room temperature strain-induced Landau levels in graphene on a wafer-scale platform, Science Advances 5, eaaw5593 (2019).
[4] O. Can et al., High-temperature topological superconductivity in twisted double layer copper oxides, Nature Physics 17, 519 (2021).

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