event
Physics Colloquium: Quantum Phenomena at Interfaces and Surfaces
Add to Calendar 2023-11-02T19:45:00 2023-11-02T20:45:00 UTC Physics Colloquium: Quantum Phenomena at Interfaces and Surfaces 101 Osmond Laboratory
Start DateThu, Nov 02, 2023
3:45 PM
to
End DateThu, Nov 02, 2023
4:45 PM
Presented By
Cui-Zu Chang, The Pennsylvania State University
Event Series: Physics Colloquium

Recently, my research group has added low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/S) to our experimental skill sets including molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) synthesis, in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), millikelvin electrical transport studies. In this talk, I will highlight the exciting physics at the interfaces/surfaces of quantum materials and then introduce my research over the last two years making use of these experimental tools. My research centers on two solid-state phenomena with zero resistance: the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect and the interface superconductivity. The QAH insulator, a material exhibiting insulating properties in its interior while allowing electrons to travel with zero resistance along one-dimensional conducting edge channels, serves as an outstanding platform for energy-efficient electronics, spintronics, and topological quantum computations. I will first talk about our recent progress on the electrical switching of the edge states chirality in QAH insulators and three-dimensional QAH and axion insulators with a thickness of a hundred nanometers. I will also talk about our recent discovery of interfacial superconductivity in MBE-grown QAH/iron chalcogenide heterostructures. The QAH/iron chalcogenide heterostructures fulfill the two essential ingredients of the long sought-after chiral topological superconductivity,  which provide an alternative platform for the exploration of Majorana physics towards topological quantum computations.