Objective "Superconductivity occurs in a metal when the temperature is low enough to favour the appearance of a new ground state comprised of time-reversed pairs of electrons. These composite particles, called Cooper pairs, form a condensate giving rise to the extraordinary phenomena characteristic of superconductivity, including zero electrical resistivity and perfect diamagnetism. Graphene is a two dimensional crystal of carbon atoms which despite being non-superconducting exhibits another type of emergent electronic order. Due to the high symmetry of graphene’s hexagonal lattice its charge carriers are massless Dirac fermions. Unlike in a normal semiconductor or metal, these electronic quasiparticles act like neutrinos, obeying the laws of ""relativistic"" quantum mechanics with an effective speed of light given by the Fermi velocity.This project seeks to study the interaction between these two types of remarkable emergent electronic particles, massless Dirac fermions and Cooper pairs. The conversion of Cooper pairs and massless Dirac fermions, the “relativistic” superconducting proximity effect, can occur in several unique graphene-superconductor (GS) junction devices. It is in the ballistic, short and transparent transport regime that new phenomena, peculiar to the ""relativistic"" nature of massless Dirac fermions, are expected. To obtain GS devices in this so far unattained limit, novel fabrication techniques will be employed, including chemical vapour deposition of graphene on superconducting electrodes, stencil-mask evaporation, multiple-angle deposition, and sample suspension. Low-temperature electronic measurements on these devices should then reveal theoretically-predicted effects such as specular Andreev reflection and gate-dependent multiple Andreev reflection, as well as others yet to be discovered relying on the interaction between Cooper pairs and massless Dirac fermions." Fields of science engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphenenatural sciencesphysical sciencesquantum physicsnatural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsfermionsnatural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssuperconductivity Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF - Marie Curie Action: "International Incoming Fellowships" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IIF See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IIF - International Incoming Fellowships (IIF) Coordinator CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS Address Rue michel ange 3 75794 Paris France See on map Region Ile-de-France Ile-de-France Paris Activity type Research Organisations Administrative Contact Véronique Debisschop (Ms.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution No data
