Colloquium - David Cobden (University of Washington) - The Mysteries of a Two-dimensional Semimetal

David Cobden (University of Washington) 4/9/19 colloquium speaker
April 9, 2019
3:45 pm - 4:45 pm
1080 Physics Research Building - Smith Seminar Room - Reception at 3:30 pm prior to the talk

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2019-04-09 15:45:00 2019-04-09 16:45:00 Colloquium - David Cobden (University of Washington) - The Mysteries of a Two-dimensional Semimetal Graphene is an example of a two-dimensional (2D) semimetal. It shows incredibly diverse and intriguing behavior, especially when multiple graphene sheets are stacked in various ways. We have been studying another 2D semimetal, WTe2, which has much stronger spin-orbit interaction and lower symmetry than graphene. It too show diverse behavior, including the quantum spin Hall effect, gate-induced superconductivity, ferroelectricity, and more which we are only beginning to explore. Some wonderful features of 2D materials are that they can be electrically gated, coupled easily to each other, and interrogated with powerful surface probes. I will describe how we are exploiting these features to try to better understand the rich physics of WTe2 and of 2D semimetals in general. 1080 Physics Research Building - Smith Seminar Room - Reception at 3:30 pm prior to the talk America/New_York public

Graphene is an example of a two-dimensional (2D) semimetal. It shows incredibly diverse and intriguing behavior, especially when multiple graphene sheets are stacked in various ways. We have been studying another 2D semimetal, WTe2, which has much stronger spin-orbit interaction and lower symmetry than graphene. It too show diverse behavior, including the quantum spin Hall effect, gate-induced superconductivity, ferroelectricity, and more which we are only beginning to explore. Some wonderful features of 2D materials are that they can be electrically gated, coupled easily to each other, and interrogated with powerful surface probes. I will describe how we are exploiting these features to try to better understand the rich physics of WTe2 and of 2D semimetals in general.