Published May 10, 2022 | Version Submitted
Discussion Paper Open

Spin-Orbit Enhanced Superconductivity in Bernal Bilayer Graphene

Abstract

In the presence of a large perpendicular electric field, Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) features several broken-symmetry metallic phases as well as magnetic-field-induced superconductivity. The superconducting state is quite fragile, however, appearing only in a narrow window of density and with a maximum critical temperature T꜀ ≈ 30~mK. Here, we show that placing monolayer tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) on BLG promotes Cooper pairing to an extraordinary degree: superconductivity appears at zero magnetic field, exhibits an order of magnitude enhancement in T꜀, and occurs over a density range that is wider by a factor of eight. By mapping quantum oscillations in BLG-WSe₂ as a function of electric field and doping, we establish that superconductivity emerges throughout a region whose normal state is polarized, with two out of four spin-valley flavours predominantly populated. In-plane magnetic field measurements further reveal a striking dependence of the critical field on doping, with the Chandrasekhar-Clogston (Pauli) limit roughly obeyed on one end of the superconducting dome yet sharply violated on the other. Moreover, the superconductivity arises only for perpendicular electric fields that push BLG hole wavefunctions towards WSe₂ -- suggesting that proximity-induced (Ising) spin-orbit coupling plays a key role in enhancing the pairing. Our results pave the way for engineering robust, highly tunable, and ultra-clean graphene-based superconductors.

Additional Information

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). We thank Andrea Young and Allan Macdonald for fruitful discussions. This work has been primarily supported by NSF-CAREER award (DMR-1753306), and Office of Naval Research (grant no. N142112635), and Army Research Office under Grant Award W911NF17-1-0323. Nanofabrication efforts have been in part supported by Department of Energy DOE-QIS program (DE-SC0019166). S.N-P. acknowledges support from the Sloan Foundation (grant no. FG-2020-13716). J.A. and S.N.-P. also acknowledge support of the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through Grant GBMF1250. C.L. and E.L.H. acknowledge support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's EPiQS Initiative, grant GBMF8682. Author Contribution: Y.Z. and S.N.-P. designed the experiment. Y.Z., R.P. and H.Z. performed the measurements, fabricated the devices, and analyzed the data. A.T., E.L.-H. and C.L. developed theoretical models and performed calculations supervised by J.A. K.W. and T.T. provided hBN crystals. S.N.-P. supervised the project. Y.Z., A.T., E.L.-H., C.L., H.Z., R.P., J.A., and S.N.-P. wrote the manuscript with the input of other authors. Data availability: The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request. Code availability: All code used in modeling in this study is available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request. The authors declare no competing interests.

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
114895
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20220524-180301852

Related works

Funding

NSF
DMR-1753306
Office of Naval Research (ONR)
N142112635
Army Research Office (ARO)
W911NF17-1-0323
Department of Energy (DOE)
DE-SC0019166
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
FG-2020-13716
Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM)
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
GBMF1250
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
GBMF8682

Dates

Created
2022-05-24
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-06-02
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