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Skyrmion pairing: a topological route to superconductivity
Add to Calendar 2022-02-28T20:45:00 2022-02-28T21:45:00 UTC Skyrmion pairing: a topological route to superconductivity 101 Osmond
Start DateMon, Feb 28, 2022
3:45 PM
to
End DateMon, Feb 28, 2022
4:45 PM
Presented By
Shubhayu Chatterjee, University of California, Berkeley
Event Series: CAMP Seminar

Atomically thin Van der Waals materials have emerged as a highly versatile platform to advance our understanding of quantum matter driven by strong electron correlations. Recent experimental breakthroughs in stabilizing few-layered graphene structures with a “magic” relative twist between layers has led to the discovery of a wide variety of correlated states ranging from magnetism to superconductivity. Despite compelling experimental evidence for unconventional superconductivity, the glue which binds electrons into Cooper pairs remains a mystery. In this talk I will propose a novel resolution: the Cooper pairs are composed of electrically charged topological spin textures called “skyrmions,” rather than electrons. First proposed by Tony Skyrme to model baryons in particle physics, I will explain how their topological properties can give rise to superconductivity in an electronic model with purely repulsive interactions, and without recourse to phonons which are conventionally responsible for pairing.