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Nanowire networks (NWNs) represent a unique hardware platform for neuromorphic information processing. In addition to exhibiting synapse-like resistive switching memory at their cross-point junctions, their self-assembly confers a neural network-like topology to their electrical circuitry, something that is impossible to achieve through conventional top-down fabrication approaches. In addition to their low power requirements, cost effectiveness and efficient interconnects, neuromorphic NWNs are also fault-tolerant and self-healing. These highly attractive properties can be largely attributed to their complex network connectivity, which enables a rich repertoire of adaptive nonlinear dynamics, including edge-of-chaos criticality. Here, we show how the adaptive dynamics intrinsic to neuromorphic NWNs can be harnessed to achieve transfer learning. We demonstrate this through simulations of a reservoir computing implementation in which NWNs perform the well-known benchmarking task of Mackey-Glass (MG) signal forecasting. First we show how NWNs can predict MG signals with arbitrary degrees of unpredictability (i.e. chaos). We then show that NWNs pre-exposed to a MG signal perform better in forecasting than NWNs without prior experience of an MG signal. This type of transfer learning is enabled by the network's collective memory of previous states. Overall, their adaptive signal processing capabilities make neuromorphic NWNs promising candidates for emerging real-time applications in IoT devices in particular, at the far edge.

Germanene, a two-dimensional honeycomb germanium crystal, is grown at graphene/Ag(111) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/Ag(111) interfaces by segregating germanium atoms. A simple annealing process in N2 or H2/Ar at ambient pressure leads to the formation of germanene, indicating that an ultrahigh-vacuum condition is not necessary. The grown germanene is stable in air and uniform over the entire area covered with a van der Waals (vdW) material. As an important finding, it is necessary to use a vdW material as a cap layer for the present germanene growth method since the use of an Al2O3 cap layer resulted in no germanene formation. The present study also proved that Raman spectroscopy in air is a powerful tool for characterizing germanene at the interfaces, which is concluded by multiple analyses including first-principles density functional theory calculations. The direct growth of h-BN-capped germanene on Ag(111), which is demonstrated in the present study, is considered to be a promising technique for the fabrication of future germanene-based electronic devices., Comment: 34 Pages, 11 Figures

The coexistence and competition of superconductivity and magnetism can lead to a variety of rich physics and technological applications. Recent discovery of atomic-layer superconductors and self-assembly of magnetic molecules on solid surfaces should allow one to create a new two-dimensional (2D) hybrid superconducting system, but its possibility has never been fully investigated so far. Here we report the fabrication of highly ordered 2D hybrid superconductors based on indium atomic layers on silicon surfaces and magnetic metal-phthalocyanines (MPc) and clarify their detailed structural, superconducting and magnetic properties. Our primary findings include a substantial controllability of the superconducting transition temperatures (Tc) through substitution of central metal ions (M = Cu, Fe, Mn) of the molecules. This is attributed to charge transfers between the magnetic molecules and the superconducting layers and to different degrees of exchange coupling between them, which originates from anisotropic distributions of the relevant d-orbitals. The present study opens a route for designing and creating exotic 2D superconductors with an atomic-scale precision., Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, including Supplementary Information

We investigate Ag(100) thin films epitaxially grown on a Fe(100) substrate using a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope. Fabrication of a wedge structure by evaporating Ag through a shadow mask allows us to observe systematic evolution of quantum well (QW) states for layer thicknesses varying from 3 to 16 monolayers (ML). Close inspection of differential conductance spectra and images reveal significant modulations of QW states in the lateral directions, presumably due to the local defects at the Ag/Fe interface. The area where QW states are modulated extends over ~ 5 nm. In clear contrast, near a surface atomic step, QW states exhibit negligible changes at least up to 1 nm away from the step, leaving unmixed the two sets of neighboring QW states belonging to different thicknesses. The results are discussed in terms of a simple electron wave diffraction model., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures

We have studied the superconducting Si(111)-(root7xroot3)-In surface using a 3He-based low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Zero-bias conductance (ZBC) images taken over a large surface area reveal that vortices are trapped at atomic steps after magnetic fields are applied. The crossover behavior from Pearl to Josephson vortices is clearly identified from their elongated shapes along the steps and significant recovery of superconductivity within the cores. Our numerical calculations combined with experiments clarify that these characteristic features are determined by the relative strength of the interterrace Josephson coupling at the atomic step., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures The title has been changed

One-dimensional (1D) stripe structures with a periodicity of 1.3 nm are formed by introduction of stacking fault arrays into a Ag thin film. The surface states of such striped Ag thin films are studied using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. Standing waves running in the longitudinal direction and characteristic spectral peaks are observed by differential conductance (dI/dV) measurements, revealing the presence of 1D states on the surface stripes. Their formation can be attributed to quantum confinement of Ag(111) surface states into a stripe by stacking faults. To quantify the degree of confinement, the effective potential barrier at the stacking fault for Ag(111) surface states is estimated from independent measurements. A single quantum well model with the effective potential barrier can reproduce the main features of dI/dV spectra on stripes, while a Kronig-Penney model fails to do so. Thus the present system should be viewed as decoupled 1D states on individual stripes rather than as anisotropic 2D Bloch states extending over a stripe array., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

Macroscopic and robust supercurrents are observed by direct electron transport measurements on a silicon surface reconstruction with In adatoms (Si(111)-(R7xR3)-In). The superconducting transition manifests itself as an emergence of the zero resistance state below 2.8 K. $I-V$ characteristics exhibit sharp and hysteretic switching between superconducting and normal states with well-defined critical and retrapping currents. The two-dimensional (2D) critical current density $J_\mathrm{2D,c}$ is estimated to be as high as $1.8 \ \mathrm{A/m}$ at 1.8 K. The temperature dependence of $J_\mathrm{2D,c}$ indicates that the surface atomic steps play the role of strongly coupled Josephson junctions., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; The error in the values of 2D critical current density $J_\mathrm{2D,c}$ was corrected. In the old version, the numbers were wrong by a factor of 100 due to a mechanical error. This does not affect the following analysis and conclusion

The electron reflection amplitude $R$ at stacking-fault (SF) induced fractional steps is determined for Ag(111) surface states using a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. Unexpectedly, $R$ remains as high as $0.6 \sim 0.8$ as energy increases from 0 to 0.5 eV, which is in clear contrast to its rapidly decreasing behavior for monatomic (MA) steps [L. B{\"u}rgi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{81}, 5370 (1998)]. Tight-binding calculations based on {\em ab-initio} derived band structures confirm the experimental finding. Furthermore, the phase shifts at descending SF steps are found to be systematically larger than counterparts for ascending steps by $\approx 0.4 \pi$. These results indicate that the subsurface SF plane significantly contributes to the reflection of surface states.

We report detailed magnetic measurements on history and metastability effects in the intermediate state of mesoscopic cylinders of type I superconducting Indium. This includes the observation of topological hysteresis with the signature occurrence of different critical fields during flux entry and flux exit. We show the existence of a plethora of metastable configuration and recipes to access them. We also demonstrate the manifestation of superheating and supercooling of superconducting and normal states, respectively across the superconductivity transition., Comment: 6 figures