Topological Transition in a 3 nm Thick Al Film Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Abstract EN

We have performed detailed transport measurements on a 3 nm thick (as-grown) Al film on GaAs prepared by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

Such an epitaxial film grown on a GaAs substrate shows the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition, a topological transition in two dimensions.

Our experimental data shows that the MBE-grown Al nanofilm is an ideal system for probing interesting physical phenomena such as the BKT transition and superconductivity.

The increased superconductor transition temperature (~2.4 K) compared to that of bulk Al (1.2 K), together with the ultrathin film quality, may be advantageous for future superconductor-based quantum devices and quantum information technology.