Observation of Superconductivity in Epitaxially Grown Atomic Layers: In Situ Electrical Transport Measurements

Description

This thesis presents first observations of superconductivity in one- or two-atomic-scale thin layer materials. The thesis begins with a historical overview of superconductivity and the electronic structure of two-dimensional materials, and mentions that these key ingredients lead to the possibility of the two-dimensional superconductor with high phase-transition temperature and critical magnetic field. Thereafter, the thesis moves its focus onto the implemented experiments, in which mainly two different materials thallium-deposited silicon surfaces and metal-intercalated bilayer graphenes, are used. The study of the first material is the first experimental demonstration of both a gigantic Rashba effect and superconductivity in the materials supposed to be superconductors without spatial inversion symmetry. The study of the latter material is relevant to superconductivity in a bilayer graphene, which was a big experimental challenge for a decade, and has been first achieved by the author. The description of the generic and innovative measurement technique, highly effective in probing electric resistivity of ultra-thin materials unstable in an ambient environment, makes this thesis a valuable source for researchers not only in surface physics but also in nano-materials science and other condensed-matter physics. Front Matter ....Pages i-xix Introduction (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 1-14 Fundamentals (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 15-51 Experimental Methods (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 53-62 Thallium Biatomic Layer (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 63-77 Thallium-Lead Monatomic-layer Compound (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 79-91 Intercalation Compounds of Bilayer Graphene (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 93-113 Conclusion (Satoru Ichinokura)....Pages 115-119 Back Matter ....Pages 121-122