Asymmetric Little-Parks oscillations in full shell double nanowires.

Little-Parks oscillations of a hollow superconducting cylinder are of interest for flux-driven topological superconductivity in single Rashba nanowires. The oscillations are typically symmetric in the orientation of the applied magnetic flux. Using double InAs nanowires coated by an epitaxial superconducting Al shell which, despite the non-centro-symmetric geometry, behaves effectively as one hollow cylinder, we demonstrate that a small misalignment of the applied parallel field with respect to the axis of the nanowires can produce field-asymmetric Little-Parks oscillations.

Epitaxial Pb on InAs nanowires for quantum devices.

Semiconductor-superconductor hybrids are widely used to realize complex quantum phenomena, such as topological superconductivity and spins coupled to Cooper pairs. Accessing new, exotic regimes at high magnetic fields and increasing operating temperatures beyond the state-of-the-art requires new, epitaxially matched semiconductor-superconductor materials. One challenge is the generation of favourable conditions for heterostructural formation between materials with the desired properties.

Complete mapping of the thermoelectric properties of a single molecule.

Theoretical studies suggest that mastering the thermocurrent through single molecules can lead to thermoelectric energy harvesters with unprecedentedly high efficiencies. This can be achieved by engineering molecule length, optimizing the tunnel coupling strength of molecules via chemical anchor groups or by creating localized states in the backbone with resulting quantum interference features. Empirical verification of these predictions, however, faces considerable experimental challenges and is still awaited.

Anisotropic magnetoresistance in spin-orbit semimetal .

, the three-dimensional member of the Ruddlesden-Popper iridates, is a paramagnetic semimetal characterised by a the delicate interplay between spin-orbit coupling and Coulomb repulsion. In this work, we study the anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) of thin films, which is closely linked to spin-orbit coupling and probes correlations between electronic transport, magnetic order and orbital states. We show that the low-temperature negative magnetoresistance is anisotropic with respect to the magnetic field orientation, and its angular dependence reveals the appearance of a fourfold symmetric component above a critical magnetic field.

Ground-State Spin Blockade in a Single-Molecule Junction.

It is known that the quantum mechanical ground state of a nanoscale junction has a significant impact on its electrical transport properties. This becomes particularly important in transistors consisting of a single molecule. Because of strong electron-electron interactions and the possibility of accessing ground states with high spins, these systems are eligible hosts of a current-blockade phenomenon called a ground-state spin blockade.