This Major Research Instrumentation award support New York University with a project to acquire a system for preparing and studying interfaces between dissimilar electronic materials to identify new scientifically important interface phenomena. The proposed system combines capabilities to grow a variety of material types as well as to prepare and analyze their interfaces. This will enable the development of interfaces between dissimilar materials that could not be achieved with only one growth method or with separate systems. The system will enable the preparation of interfaces by growing each component of the interface with the technique that is most appropriate for that material. A major theme of this project is the creation and exploration of interfaces between materials with vastly different electronic properties, such as superconductors (materials that conduct electricity without energy loss), semiconductors, insulators, low-dimensional materials and magnetic materials. The properties of the interfaces between such materials are predicted to be distinct from that of either component and these predictions will be tested in experiments made possible with this system. The project will also enable advances in understanding of interfaces that are important for technological applications. Training students in important scientific/technological areas and providing them with expertise in state-of-the-art methods is an integral part of this project.
This Major Research Instrumentation award supports New York University with the acquisition an integrated thin film deposition, surface preparation and analysis system to advance the understanding of a variety of electronic material systems, with a focus on identifying novel interface phenomena and device physics. The proposed system combines capabilities for multiple thin film growth techniques, surface preparation and surface analysis techniques. The system design will enable the development of new classes of heterostructures that could not be achieved with only one growth method or with separate systems or vacuum chambers. Having these capabilities within the same ultra-high vacuum envelope will enable the preparation of the desired interfaces in situ, using the deposition and sample surface preparation techniques that are most appropriate for each component of a heterostructure. A major theme of this project is the creation and exploration of interfaces between materials with competing electronic states that include topological-insulators, superconductors, ferromagnets, metals and low-dimensional materials. New electronic properties and phases that have been predicted theoretically will be studied experimentally. Examples include topological insulator surface states in proximity with conventional broken symmetry quantum states, such superconductivity and ferromagnetism. When paired, the combination of topological and symmetry-broken phases is thought to provide a route for realizing novel quasiparticle states such as Majorana fermions, Dyons and Axions. Surface states of topological insulators also interact strongly with thin ferromagnetic layers, leading to spin-transfer torques on the ferromagnet that are just beginning to be explored. Other applications include the study of organic superconductors, for which an ability to form tunnel junctions and gate dielectrics will allow a deeper understanding of a variety of electronic states of matter, inducing spin density wave, superconducting and quantum Hall phases. The project will also enable advances in understanding of structural and interface factors that are key to the viability of novel low dimensional semiconductors for technological applications.
