Lee Hsun Lecture Series

Topic: Injecting superconducting and normal currents in ultrathin metal structures and carbon nanocompounds

Speaker: Vincent BOUCHIAT
          Research director at Néel Institute, CNRS-Grenoble,
          Université Grenoble-Alpes, France

Abstract:

These last two decades have seen numerous developments in the reliable connection and measurement of electronic properties of single nano-objects down to the atomic size.  In that perspective, my presentation will illustrate with experimental examples several research directions we have taken in my group to explore the limit of conductivity in ultrathin metallic films and on carbon nano-compounds. I will emphasize important ingredients and prerequisites to succeed in overcoming obstacles such as growth and preservation of crystalline structure of films, the control of contact barriers, and the realization of superconducting electrodes. I will present several applications such as molecular magnetism, bio-applications as well as more fundamental aspects such as the study of Electronic Quantum Phase transitions and draw some perspectives of future work including collaborations with IMR Scientists.

Vincent Bouchiat received an engineer degree from ESPCI and a Master Degree from the University of Paris, Pierre & Marie Curie in 1993. After completing his Ph.D. at Quantronics group in CEA-Saclay in 1997 under supervision of Michel Devoret and Daniel Estève, he got CNRS position the same year at University of Marseilles and moves to CNRS-Grenoble in 2001.  He received the Visiting Miller Professorship Award from University of California, Berkeley in 2007 and spent two years there.  He has co-authored more than 80 papers and 7 patents, , including: 1 Nature Materials, 3 Nature Nanotechnology, 2 Nature Physics, 1 Nature Communications, and 5 PRL.