Confinement-Engineered Superconductor to Correlated-Insulator Transition in a van der Waals Monolayer

Somesh Ganguli*, Viliam Vano, Kezilebieke Shawulienu, Jose Lado*, Peter Liljeroth*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
51 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) are a rich family of two-dimensional materials displaying a multitude of different quantum ground states. In particular, d3 TMDCs are paradigmatic materials hosting a variety of symmetry broken states, including charge density waves, superconductivity, and magnetism. Among this family, NbSe2 is one of the best-studied superconducting materials down to the monolayer limit. Despite its superconducting nature, a variety of results point toward strong electronic repulsions in NbSe2. Here, we control the strength of the interactions experimentally via quantum confinement and use low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) to demonstrate that NbSe2 is in close proximity to a correlated insulating state. This reveals the coexistence of competing interactions in NbSe2, creating a transition from a superconducting to an insulating quantum correlated state by confinement-controlled interactions. Our results demonstrate the dramatic role of interactions in NbSe2, establishing NbSe2 as a correlated superconductor with competing interactions.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1845-1850
Number of pages6
JournalNano Letters
Volume22
Issue number5
Early online date15 Feb 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Mar 2022
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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