Ambient exposure covers van der Waals materials with a self-assembled monolayer of normal alkanes, a form of contamination we previously identified using STM and infrared spectroscopy. In STM measurements of graphene and graphite, it has two clear fingerprints: it suppresses the phonon-induced tunneling gap and it produces an anomalously small current–distance decay constant.
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We’ve just released on GitHub an improved version of the RSS feed searcher powering our group’s “Daily Papers” page. With so many literature tools around, like Google Scholar or various AI-powered platforms, you might think researchers are already covered. But there’s still a big gap when it comes to following everything newly published in your […]
Read MoreAlso known as ABC graphite, this quantum material hosts a flat band at its surfaces, leading to the emergence of new correlated phases of matter, including the recently discovered fractional Chern insulator. A major bottleneck in the exploration of this material is the identification of samples with prefect rhombohedral or ABC stacking. Our group has […]
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Our group has identified, using low temperature STM and infrared spectroscopy measurements, the structure and composition of the hydrocarbon contamination found on many van der Waals material surfaces (hBN, MoS2, etc.). When exposing fresh surfaces to ambient conditions, the initial contamination layer is replaced within days by a monolayer of straight chain alkanes. These alkanes […]
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Our STM measurements reveal a degenerate many-body ground state in the flat band of rhombohedral graphite. The system at charge neutrality is possibly the simplest crystal hosting quantum magnetism, forming a new experimental platform to study strongly correlated electrons.
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Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) measurements, we have observed the closing of the topological gap in the van der Waals material ZrTe5, by applying mechanical deformations to it in the form of bubbles.
Read MoreThe result of our collaboration with the group of Prof. Yanpeng Qi at ShanghaiTech University has just been published in npj Quantum Materials. Our work reveals that Pt2HgSe3 (jacutingaite) transforms to a monoclinic structure (space group Pc), above 55 GPa and at the same time becomes a superconductor.
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In our recent paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, we show that the plasmon frequencies of graphene can be tuned from terahertz frequencies into the visible range. This enables extremely sensitive detection of molecules from femtomolar concentrations by Raman spectroscopy.
Read MoreA short article in index.hu, featuring our work related to topological edge states in Pt2HgSe3 (jacutingaite).
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Pt2HgSe3 is a layered, van der Waals mineral, called jacutingaite. It was discovered in 2008 in Brazil [1] and the monolayer has been predicted to be a large gap topological insulator [2]. Our group has been able to detect signatures of the predicted topological edge states, within a bulk gap that is larger than 100 […]
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