Abstract:
I will present results on ultra-thin superconducting compounds ranging from layered intermetallics to refractory metal oxides, with a focus on their critical field dependence at very low temperatures. A violation of the Pauli limit in two-dimensional materials is not uncommon, but here I will show that field-enhanced and field-induced superconductivity is also a prevalent phenomenon. By studying these compounds through the lens of competing depairing channels, we can reveal that it is plausible that in all cases the unconventional behavior is due to interactions with localized magnetic moments in the structure, without the need for invoking unconventional pairing scenarios as the leading explanation. I will finally provide an outlook for how this may be a useful knob to tune between competing order parameters.
Bio: Joe Falson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech, joining the faculty in 2020. His research focuses on thin film quantum matter, with a specific focus on ultra-thin, underexplored materials, where the lab synthesizes materials using molecular beam epitaxy and studies them using ultra-low temperature techniques. He completed his PhD at the University of Tokyo and his postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research.
