Superconductivity

By:
in Bilayer
SUPERVISOR:
Zaid GrapheneProf. Shahid
Mustafa Husain
2020PHB020Department of Physics
Aligarh Muslim University
GM2703
Aligarh (U.P - 202002)
2022
 Outline
1.Introduction
2.Superconductivity
3.Graphene
4.Bilayer Graphene
5.Superconductivity in Bilayer Graphene
6.Conclusion
7.References
 Introduction
 SUPERCONDUCTIVITY: Large potential to shape the future technology in
many fields, whether it is quantum computing or it is medical science.

 GRAPHENE: An allotrope of carbon, which is conventionally an insulator.

 When two graphene sheets are arranged one over the other and slightly
misplaced by an angle of 1.10, becomes a superconductor at critical
temperature (Tc < 1.7 K).

 It is the first synthetic two-dimensional (2D) atomic crystal.

 Attracted immense attention because of its excellent properties-
 Stiffness
 Strength
 Elasticity
 High thermal conductivity
 Extremely high electron mobility and tuneable band gap

 When monolayers of graphene are stacked to create bilayers, they get

slightly misaligned and a twist is created which changes its properties.

 The observation that the superconductivity persists under a strong magnetic

field could lead to advances in Quantum Computation as well as
construction of Tunneling Field Effect transistors (TEFT).
 Superconductivity
 Superconductivity: ‘Excellent ability to conduct’.

 When the metals are cooled up to very low temperature, the resistivity
suddenly vanishes and conductivity becomes infinite, this stage is called
superconductivity.

 It is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where

electrical resistance vanishes and electric flux fields are expelled from the
material­, any material that exhibits these properties is a superconductor.

 A superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature (Tc) below which,

the resistance drops abruptly to zero and material becomes a superconductor.
 Properties:
 Persistent currents
 Perfect diamagnetism
 Critical magnetic field, etc.

 Several physical properties of superconductors vary from material to

material, such as the critical temperature (Tc), the value of the
superconducting gap, the critical magnetic field, and the critical current
density at which superconductivity is destroyed.
 Graphene
 Literally, it means: “graphite” and the suffix “-ene”, means that
the graphite allotrope of carbon, containing numerous double bonds.
 Graphene consists of a single layer of atoms arranged in a two-
dimensional honeycomb lattice nanostructure, as shown below.
 Each atom in a graphene sheet is connected to its three nearest neighbors by
a strong σ-bond, and contributes to a valence band of one electron that
extends over the whole sheet.
 This is the same type of bonding as seen in carbon nanotubes, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons and (partially) in fullerenes and glassy carbon.
 The valence band is touched by a conduction band, making graphene
a semimetal with unusual electronic properties.
 The physical properties of Graphene have attracted a lot of attention in the
recent years.
 Stiffness
 Strength
 Elasticity
 High thermal conductivity
 Extremely high electron mobility and tuneable band gap
 Bilayer graphene
 When monolayers of graphene are stacked to create bilayers, they get slightly misaligned
and a twist is created which changes the electrical properties of bilayer graphene.
 The twist produces two branches, one of the massive electrons and another of the
massless Dirac fermions; the later being responsible for preventing the bilayer graphene
from becoming totally insulating even under a strong electric field.
 Superconductivity in
Bilayer Graphene
 Most recently, a series of breakthrough experiments on magic-angle graphene
superlattices have triggered great excitement.

 By arranging two layers of graphene twisted at a narrow range of particular magic angle
of 1.10, it turns into a superconductor at 1.7 K with charge carrier density ~1011 cm-2.

 The electronic band structure of this twisted bilayer graphene exhibits flat bands near
zero Fermi energy, resulting in correlated insulating states at half-filling.

 Upon electrostatic doping of the material away from these correlated insulating states, we
observe tunable zero-resistance states with a critical temperature of up to 1.7 K.
 The temperature carrier-density phase diagram of twisted bilayer graphene is similar to
that of copper oxides (or cuprates), and includes dome-shaped regions that correspond to
superconductivity.

 Moreover, quantum oscillations in the longitudinal resistance of the material indicate the
presence of small Fermi surfaces near the correlated insulating states, in analogy with
underdoped cuprates. 

 The relatively high superconducting critical temperature of twisted bilayer graphene,

given such a small Fermi surface, puts it among the superconductors with the strongest
pairing strength between electrons.

 Twisted bilayer graphene is a precisely tunable, purely carbon-based, two-dimensional

superconductor.

 It is therefore an ideal material for investigations of strongly correlated phenomena,

which could lead to insights into the physics of high-critical-temperature superconductors
and quantum spin liquids.
 Conclusion
 When two graphene sheets are arranged one over the other and slightly
misplaced by an angle of 1.10, it becomes a superconductor at critical
temperature (Tc < 1.7 K).

 It may lead to advances in quantum computation as well as construction of

tunneling field effect transistors (TEFT).

 Graphene transistors can be used as gas sensors and in many other such
applications.
 References
 Elements of Solid-State Physics, J.P. Srivastava (4th Edition) [2015]

 Introduction to Solid State Physics, Charles Kittel (8th Edition) [2005]

 Antiferromagnetically ordered Mott insulator and d + id superconductivity

in twisted bilayer graphene: a quantum Monte Carlo study, Tongyun Huang,
Lufeng Zhang and Tianxing Ma Science Bulletin, 64, 1-3, 2019.

 Quantized conductance and superconductivity of twisted graphene and other

2D crystals explained with the Eyring’s rate process theory and free volume
concept by Tian Hao and Ting Hao, Chemical Physics Letters, 794, 6, 2022.
Thank
you