Extreme enhancement of superconductivity in epitaxial aluminum near the monolayer limit

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Werner M. J. van Weerdenburg
  • Anand Kamlapure
  • Eirik Holm Fyhn
  • Xiaochun Huang
  • Niels P. E. van Mullekom
  • Manuel Steinbrecher
  • Jeppesen, Peter Krogstrup
  • Jacob Linder
  • Alexander Ako Khajetoorians

BCS theory has been widely successful at describing elemental bulk superconductors. Yet, as the length scales of such superconductors approach the atomic limit, dimensionality as well as the environment of the supercon-ductor can lead to drastically different and unpredictable superconducting behavior. Here, we report a threefold enhancement of the superconducting critical temperature and gap size in ultrathin epitaxial Al films on Si(111), when approaching the 2D limit, based on high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/ STS) measurements. Using spatially resolved spectroscopy, we characterize the vortex structure in the presence of a strong Zeeman field and find evidence of a paramagnetic Meissner effect originating from odd-frequency pairing contributions. These results illustrate two notable influences of reduced dimensionality on a BCS super-conductor and present a platform to study BCS superconductivity in large magnetic fields.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5500
JournalScience Advances
Volume9
Issue number9
Number of pages9
ISSN2375-2548
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Mar 2023

    Research areas

  • ENERGY-GAP, SPIN POLARIZATION, CRITICAL FIELD, FILMS, TEMPERATURE, TRANSITION, INTERFACES

ID: 344327467