arXiv subjects

Morteza Kayyalha

Publications and source records attributed to Morteza Kayyalha.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Anomalous low-temperature enhancement of supercurrent in topological-insulator nanoribbon Josephson junctions: evidence for low-energy Andreev bound states

We report anomalous enhancement of the critical current at low temperatures in gate-tunable Josephson junctions made from topological insulator BiSbTeSe$_2$ nanoribbons with superconducting Nb electrodes. In contrast to conventional junctions, as a function of the decreasing temperature $T$, the increasing critical current $I_c$ exhibits a sharp upturn at a temperature $T_*$ around 20$\%$ of the junction critical temperatures for several different samples and various gate voltages. The $I_c$ vs. $T$ demonstrates a short junction behavior for $T>T_*$, but crosses over to a long junction behavior for $T<T_*$ with an exponential $T$-dependence $I_c \propto \exp\big(-k_B T/δ\big)$, where $k_B$ is the Boltzmann constant. The extracted characteristic energy-scale $δ$ is found to be an order of magnitude smaller than the induced superconducting gap of the junction. We attribute the long-junction behavior with such a small $δ$ to low-energy Andreev bound states (ABS) arising from winding of the electronic wavefunction around the circumference of the topological insulator nanoribbon (TINR). Our TINR-based Josephson junctions with low-energy ABS are promising for future topologically protected devices that may host exotic phenomena such as Majorana fermions.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Gate-tunable supercurrent and multiple Andreev reflections in a superconductor-topological insulator nanoribbon-superconductor hybrid device

We report on the observation of gate-tunable proximity-induced superconductivity and multiple Andreev reflections (MAR) in a bulk-insulating BiSbTeSe$_2$ topological insulator nanoribbon (TINR) Josephson junction (JJ) with superconducting Nb contacts. We observe a gate-tunable critical current ($I_C$) for gate voltages ($V_g$) above the charge neutrality point ($V_{CNP}$), with $I_C$ as large as 430 nA. We also observe MAR peaks in the differential conductance ($dI/dV$) versus DC voltage ($V_{dc}$) across the junction corresponding to sub-harmonic peaks (at $V_{dc} = V_n = 2Δ_{Nb}/en$, where $Δ_{Nb}$ is the superconducting gap of the Nb contacts and $n$ is the sub-harmonic order). The sub-harmonic order, $n$, exhibits a $V_g$-dependence and reaches $n = 13$ for $V_g = 40$ V, indicating the high transparency of the Nb contacts to TINR. Our observations pave the way toward exploring the possibilities of using TINR in topologically protected devices that may host exotic physics such as Majorana fermions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Gate-Tunable and Thickness-dependent Electronic and Thermoelectric Transport in few-layer MoS2

Over the past few years, there has been a growing interest in layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Most studies so far have focused on the electronic and optoelectronic properties of single-layer MoS2, whose band structure features a direct bandgap, in sharp contrast to the indirect bandgap of thicker MoS2. In this paper, we present a systematic study of the thickness-dependent electrical and thermoelectric properties of few-layer MoS2. We observe that the electrical conductivity () increases as we reduce the thickness of MoS2 and peaks at about two layers, with six-time larger conductivity than our thickest sample (23-layer MoS2). Using a back-gate voltage, we modulate the Fermi energy () of the sample where an increase in the Seebeck coefficient () is observed with decreasing gate voltage () towards the subthreshold (OFF state) of the device, reaching as large as in a four-layer MoS2. While previous reports have focused on a single-layer MoS2 and measured Seebeck coefficient in the OFF state, which has vanishing electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power factor (), we show that MoS2-based devices in their ON state can have as large as in the two-layer sample. The increases with decreasing thickness then drops abruptly from double-layer to single-layer MoS2, a feature we suggest as due to a change in the energy dependence of the electron mean-free-path according to our theoretical calculation. Moreover, we show that care must be taken in thermoelectric measurements in the OFF state to avoid obtaining erroneously large Seebeck coefficients when the channel resistance is very high. Our study paves the way towards a more comprehensive examination of the thermoelectric performance of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Observation of reduced 1/f noise in Graphene field effect transistors on Boron Nitride substrates

We have investigated the low frequency (f) flicker (also called 1/f) noise of single-layer graphene devices on h-BN (placed on SiO2/Si) along with those on SiO2/Si. We observe that the devices fabricated on h-BN have on average one order of magnitude lower noise amplitude compared with devices fabricated on SiO2/Si. We associate this noise reduction to the lower densities of impurities and trap sites in h-BN than in SiO2. Furthermore, the gate voltage dependent noise amplitude shows a broad maximum at Dirac point for devices on h-BN, in contrast to the M-shaped behavior showing a minimum at Dirac point for devices on SiO2, consistent with the reduced charge inhomogeneity (puddles) for graphene on h-BN. This study demonstrates that the use of h-BN as a substrate or dielectric can be a simple and efficient noise reduction technique valuable for electronic applications of graphene and other nanomaterials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗