Søren Ulstrup has received a grant of 2.992.179 DKK from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Regarding research project: ”Twisting superconductivity out of atomic bilayers”.
A superconductor is a material that is capable of conducting electrical current with zero resistance. Despite far-reaching technological benefits of harnessing superconductivity, its fundamental quantum mechanical origin remains a great mystery for a wide range of materials. This project will explore new types of superconducting matter by stacking atomically thin materials layer-by-layer. Precision control of the interlayer rotation angle between atomic planes introduces a tuning knob to align the quantum states of the charge carrying electrons within each layer and thereby force electrons to form superconducting pairs. The resulting quantum states will be directly visualized using photoemission spectroscopy with nanoscale spatial resolution at the newly built SGM4 beamline of the ASTRID2 light source. The project will enable the integration of sophisticated tools for assembling atomically thin superconducting matter directly with the new beamline facility. The ultimate goal is then to realize on-demand superconductivity by twisting atomically thin crystals.