Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 75: Metal Substrates: Growth Studies

O 75.3: Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 15:30–15:45, WIL C107

STM investigations of Bi thin films on oxidized and clean Nb(110) — •Robin Boshuis, Artem B. Odobesko, Johannes Jung, and Matthias Bode — Physikalisches Institut, Experimentelle Physik II, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany

Motivated by the still ongoing quest for topological superconductivity, the proximity coupling of strongly spin-orbit–coupled Bi films with superconducting substrates gained wide interest. In this context a precise control of the surface termination via the epitaxial relationship at the interface between the superconductor and the Bi film may crucially influence the electronic structure.

We perform STM and STS investigations to study the growth of Bi thin films on Nb(110). We find that the surface structure of Bi crucially depends on the surface quality of the niobium substrate. While Bi grows in a hexagonal (111) structure on the oxygen-reconstructed surface of Nb(110), deposition on the clean Nb surface results in a Bi(110) surface with a rectangular atomic lattice. The different expitaxial relationships of Bi on clean and oxygen-reconstructed Nb(110) offer a versatile platform to investigate strongly spin-orbit–coupled superconductors and their interaction with magnetic nanostructures towards topological superconductivity.