Project description

The joint research project is aimed at exploring the possibility of creating materials and devices for next-generation electronics utilizing the phenomenon of superconductivity.
We investigate how the combined influence of different types of interactions, topology, and sample dimensionality can be leveraged to enhance the critical parameters of superconductors, such as their critical temperature.

Project Goals:

• Development of compact devices for superconducting electronics.
• Achieving superconductivity at higher temperatures.
• Increasing the critical current of superconductors.

One of the research objects is materials made from topologically complex lattices, such as the kagome lattice. This interesting structure can be created artificially. For instance, a kagome lattice can be produced by stacking several monoatomic layers of carbon, known as graphene. A kagome lattice can also be fabricated by simply arranging chains of atoms on a metal surface. A feature of the kagome lattice is the nontrivial properties of its electronic band structure. The nontrivial topology of the lattice leads to a special type of superconductivity with a higher critical temperature.
The reason for this is the presence of special points in the electronic band structure. These can be Dirac points with a linear dispersion converging at a single point for electrons and holes. These can also be so-called van Hove singularities. Such points are common in topologically complex layered systems. Their presence directly enables the possibility of achieving high-temperature superconductivity. Furthermore, topologically complex states are protected from decay processes by their topological properties. They can be used to create devices for quantum superconducting electronics, for example, to create qubits for quantum computing.
Another interesting object of study is ferromagnetic and multiband superconductors. In such materials, there are several order parameters. Competition between them leads to a special class of superconductors that are neither type-I nor type-II. Magnetic vortices in such systems form complex spatial configurations. Their shape strongly depends on system parameters, such as temperature, which can be used to create a new generation of sensors. This possibility is also being investigated within the framework of the partnership project. Remarkably, the magnetization distribution in such superconductors replicates intricate patterns found in many other natural phenomena.