Van der Waals heterostructures provide an exceptional playground to tackle
unconventional superconductivity because of their 2D character and their virtually
infinite possible combinations. Interlayer alignment (twist angle) shows a pathway to
strongly correlated phenomena, while proximity induced effects are a way to combine
and “merge” properties seemingly incompatible. In this talk, I will show how to use
superlattices to promote electron-electron interactions to produce strongly correlated
effects. Secondly, I will show the potential of proximity induced effects on addressing
unconventional superconductivity by combining an s-wave superconductor and a 2D
topological insulator to create 1D topological superconductivity, a potential venue for the
creation of Majorana bound states. Finally, I will present the technological developments
necessary to study air-sensitive van der Waals heterostructures by scanning tunnelling
microscopy and I will propose new approaches disentangle the convoluted spectroscopic
information acquired by STM.
Dr. José Martínez-Castro obtained his B.Sc. degree in physics from the University of
Valencia in 2011, and then a M.Sc. degree in Nanotechnology and Nanoscience from the
University of Zaragoza in 2012. From 2013 to 2016, he joined University College London
(UCL) as a PhD. student under the supervision of Dr. Cyrus Hirjibehedin, to investigate
spin excitations in novel ultrathin insulators. The thesis entitled “Atomically Thin Stacks
of Polar Insulators: A Route to Atomic-Scale Multiferroics” was awarded with the
Stoneham Marshall PhD. Thesis Prize in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics in
UCL. In 2016, he moved to Geneva as a PostDoctoral fellow, in the group of Prof.
Christoph Renner, investigating van der Waals heterostructures with STM. In 2019, he
joined Peter Grünberg Institute for Quantum Nanoscience in Forschungszentrum Jülich,
under the supervision of Prof. Markus Ternes and Prof. Stefan Tautz. Since then, he has
been working as an independent Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow investigating topological
superconductivity in van der Waals heterostructures.
Van der Waals heterostructures provide an exceptional playground to tackle
unconventional superconductivity because of their 2D character and their virtually
infinite possible combinations. Interlayer alignment (twist angle) shows a pathway to
strongly correlated phenomena, while proximity induced effects are a way to combine
and “merge” properties seemingly incompatible. In this talk, I will show how to use
superlattices to promote electron-electron interactions to produce strongly correlated
effects. Secondly, I will show the potential of proximity induced effects on addressing
unconventional superconductivity by combining an s-wave superconductor and a 2D
topological insulator to create 1D topological superconductivity, a potential venue for the
creation of Majorana bound states. Finally, I will present the technological developments
necessary to study air-sensitive van der Waals heterostructures by scanning tunnelling
microscopy and I will propose new approaches disentangle the convoluted spectroscopic
information acquired by STM.
Dr. José Martínez-Castro obtained his B.Sc. degree in physics from the University of
Valencia in 2011, and then a M.Sc. degree in Nanotechnology and Nanoscience from the
University of Zaragoza in 2012. From 2013 to 2016, he joined University College London
(UCL) as a PhD. student under the supervision of Dr. Cyrus Hirjibehedin, to investigate
spin excitations in novel ultrathin insulators. The thesis entitled “Atomically Thin Stacks
of Polar Insulators: A Route to Atomic-Scale Multiferroics” was awarded with the
Stoneham Marshall PhD. Thesis Prize in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics in
UCL. In 2016, he moved to Geneva as a PostDoctoral fellow, in the group of Prof.
Christoph Renner, investigating van der Waals heterostructures with STM. In 2019, he
joined Peter Grünberg Institute for Quantum Nanoscience in Forschungszentrum Jülich,
under the supervision of Prof. Markus Ternes and Prof. Stefan Tautz. Since then, he has
been working as an independent Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow investigating topological
superconductivity in van der Waals heterostructures.
