R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminar

The Superconductivity of Topologically Protected Surface States

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Date: Thursday, December 15th

Time: 10:00 am

Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall

Speaker: Nicholas Sedlmayr, Michigan State University

Abstract: When a superconductor and a normal material are brought together there is a proximity effect where the normal material takes on some superconducting properties near the interface. Similarly the topologically protected surface states recently found on the surfaces of special crystals can leak into appropriate adjoining materials. We bring these two effects into proximity and study how superconductivity and topologically protected surface states interact with each other, a situation of interest in the search for Majorana bound states. We look at the scanning tunneling microscopy of a large topological insulator with superconducting islands deposited on the surface, and analyze relevant theoretical models. The density of states of both the topological insulator and the superconductor turn out to exhibit interesting proximity effects.

Host: Alex Levchenko

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