Recent advancements in the study of NbSe2 have revealed its exceptional potential as a superconductor, particularly in layered two-dimensional (2D) structures. The critical temperature (Tc) of NbSe2 has been measured at 7.3 K in bulk form, but when exfoliated to monolayer thickness, it exhibits a Tc of 3.0 K, showcasing its dimensionality-dependent superconducting properties. A breakthrough in 2023 demonstrated that by applying uniaxial strain of up to 1.5%, the Tc of monolayer NbSe2 can be enhanced to 4.2 K, a 40% increase from its unstrained state. This strain engineering approach opens new avenues for tuning superconductivity in 2D materials, with implications for quantum computing and low-temperature electronics.
The interplay between charge density waves (CDWs) and superconductivity in NbSe2 has been a focal point of recent research. High-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies have revealed that the CDW transition temperature (T_CDW) in NbSe2 is 33 K, while superconductivity emerges below Tc = 7.3 K. A groundbreaking study published in *Nature Physics* (2023) demonstrated that by intercalating copper atoms into the van der Waals gaps of NbSe2, the T_CDW can be suppressed to below 10 K, while Tc remains nearly unchanged. This decoupling of CDW and superconducting phases suggests that CDW suppression does not necessarily enhance superconductivity, challenging previous theoretical models and providing new insights into the complex phase diagram of NbSe2.
The role of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in NbSe2 has been another area of intense investigation. Recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) experiments have shown that SOC splits the bands by up to 80 meV at the Fermi surface, significantly influencing the superconducting gap symmetry. A study in *Science Advances* (2023) reported that the superconducting gap anisotropy ratio Δ_max/Δ_min in NbSe2 is approximately 1.8, indicating strong anisotropic pairing interactions. Furthermore, by doping NbSe2 with tungsten (W), researchers achieved a SOC-induced enhancement of the upper critical field (H_c2) to 30 T at 0 K, compared to 15 T for pure NbSe2. This result highlights the potential of SOC engineering for improving the performance of superconducting devices under high magnetic fields.
The application of NbSe2 in topological superconductivity has gained significant attention due to its potential for hosting Majorana fermions, which are crucial for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Recent experiments have demonstrated that when interfaced with ferromagnetic insulators like CrBr3, NbSe2 exhibits signatures of chiral edge modes with a quantized conductance plateau at e^2/h at temperatures below 1 K. A study published in *Physical Review Letters* (2023) reported a zero-bias conductance peak with a height of ~0.5 e^2/h in NbSe2-based Josephson junctions, consistent with theoretical predictions for Majorana bound states. These findings position NbSe2 as a leading candidate for realizing topological qubits and advancing quantum information technologies.
Finally, advances in fabrication techniques have enabled the integration of NbSe2 into hybrid superconducting circuits with unprecedented precision. In 2023, researchers achieved epitaxial growth of high-quality NbSe2 films on sapphire substrates with a root-mean-square roughness below 0.5 nm over areas exceeding 100 µm². These films exhibited critical current densities (J_c) exceeding 10^6 A/cm² at 4 K, rivaling those of conventional superconductors like niobium nitride (NbN). Moreover, by patterning NbSe2 into nanowires with widths as narrow as 20 nm, scientists observed persistent supercurrents up to ~10 µA at temperatures close to Tc, demonstrating its potential for nanoscale superconducting devices.
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