Topological insulators are a class of materials which are electronically insulating in the bulk and highly conducting at the surface. These special surface states provide unique access to highly mobile spin-polarised electrons, which makes these materials a desirable component for future electronics.
This project aims to create an ultraclean, protected environment for the surface states of the layered topological insulating Bi2(Se, Te)3 by encapsulating them with layers of clean insulating hexagonal boron nitride. These heterostructures will be created by mechanical pick and place method which exploits the strong van der Waals interaction between atomically smooth surfaces, allowing the creation of new layered materials from few-atom thick building blocks. The robustness and performance of the topological surface states will be electronically tested by electrical transport measurements down to ultracold temperatures and high magnetic field.
Supervisor: Prof. Michael Fuhrer and Dr Semonti Bhattacharyya
See https://www.monash.edu/science/schools/physics/honours/honours-project to apply.