Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize Winner: Ali Yazdani

Emergent Quantum Phenomena under the Microscope

Advances in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopic mapping on the atomic scale with the STM have transformed our perception of quantum phenomena in matter. I will describe highlights of such findings by my research group in various quantum materials, from cuprate superconductors and topological materials to novel two-dimensional crystals and their stacks. STM spectroscopic mapping has been instrumental to key discoveries of the various charge-ordered or broken symmetry states as well as elucidating the nature of superconductivity in different correlated systems. In the study of topological quantum phases and their boundary modes, spectroscopic mapping with the STM has uncovered the absence of backscattering in topological surface states, the existence of signatures of Majorana zero modes in atomic chains, and has been used to visualize topological defects in quantum Hall ferromagnets. Many of these advances are made possible by the development of high-resolution instrumentation as well as more sophisticated measurement techniques or new ways of preparation of ultra-clean samples and devices. I will describe these findings and discuss the outlook for further exploration of novel quantum phases with STM or STM-based techniques.