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Superconductivity at the two-dimensional limit

Authors :
Qin, Shengyong
Kim, Jungdae
Niu, Qian
Shih, Chih-Kang
Source :
Science. June 5, 2009, Vol. 324 Issue 5932, p1314, 4 p.
Publication Year :
2009

Abstract

Superconductivity in the extreme two-dimensional limit is studied on ultrathin lead films down to two atomic layers, where only a single channel of quantum well states exists. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals that local superconducting order remains robust until two atomic layers, where the transition temperature abruptly plunges to a lower value, depending sensitively on the exact atomic structure of the film. Our result shows that Cooper pairs can still form in the last two-dimensional channel of electron states, although their binding is strongly affected by the substrate.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
00368075
Volume :
324
Issue :
5932
Database :
Gale General OneFile
Journal :
Science
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsgcl.202124611