LOWDIM - Emergent Systems in Low Dimensions (DFM.AD003.382)
Thematic area
Physical sciences and technologies of matter
Project area
Materiali innovativi (DFM.AD003)Structure responsible for the research project
Institutes for complex systems (ISC)
Other structures collaborating in the research project
Project manager
LARA BENFATTO
Phone number: 3493520647
Email: lara.benfatto@roma1.infn.it
Abstract
The project aims at investigating theoretically the properties of low-dimensional systems, where emergent complex phenomena appear at low temperatures due to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In particular, we will address the phase transition towards a superconducting and charge-density-wave state, and the competition/interplay between them. The low-dimensional nature of these systems, due to the structural properties (thin films) or composition (layered materials), enhances the fluctuations effects, leading to a plethora of interesting phenomena. We will study both the equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena, in order to assess the potential of several spectroscopic techniques in the investigation of conventional and unconventional superconductors, superconducting interfaces and transition-metal dichalcogenides.
Goals
The project aims at providing a theoretical description of the microscopic interactions at play in several emergent materials, and how they influence the spectroscopic response of the systems. In particular we aim at describing the collective electronic excitations in the broken-symmetry state, as e.g. amplitude (Higgs) and phase (Goldstone) modes in superconductors, and the possibility to drive them by means of impulsive spectroscopy. A second focus will be the behavior of the vortex lattice in two-dimensional superconductors, whose melting mimics the solid-to-liquid transition in two dimensions. We will compare numerical Monte-Carlo simulations in the XY model with STM images to demonstrate the existence of an intermediate hexatic phase between the solid and the liquid.
Start date of activity
15/07/2020
Keywords
New materials, Superconductivity, Theoretical modelling
Last update: 30/04/2024