Nitin Samarth: Puzzles at the interface between topology, magnetism, and superconductivity

Puzzles at the interface between topology, magnetism, and superconductivity

Abstract: The confluence of fundamental symmetries (such as time reversal invariance) and spin-orbit coupling is known to produce electronic states in crystalline solids that are accurately described using the language of topology. We use the synthesis of epitaxial topological quantum materials to raise interesting questions about the manifestations of bulk-boundary correspondence in two cases where topology is interfaced with ferromagnetism: quantized anomalous Hall insulators and non-conserved spin currents in topological insulator/ferromagnet heterostructures.  We then discuss the surprising and puzzling discovery of emergent superconductivity at the interface of magnetism and topology. Finally, we provide an outlook on new directions that include the development of epitaxial materials that interface superconductivity with materials relevant for quantum information technologies, such as diamond.

Bio: Nitin Samarth is Verne M. Willaman Professor of Physics and Professor of Materials Science & Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the 2D Crystal Consortium, an NSF-funded Materials Innovation Platform user facility. He received his undergraduate degree in physics from IIT Bombay (India) and his Ph.D. in physics from Purdue University. After postdoctoral work at the University of Notre Dame, Samarth joined the physics faculty at Penn State where he also served as Downsbrough Department Head from 2011-2023. Samarth is a Fellow of the APS and AAAS. He received the APS Adler Lectureship Award in 2024. His other honors include Penn State’s Faculty Scholar Medal in the Physical Sciences, Penn State’s George Atherton Excellence in Teaching Award, and Outstanding Alumnus Awards from Purdue University and IIT Bombay. He has served on the elected chair-line of the APS Division of Materials Physics and currently serves on the chair-line of the APS March Meeting. Samarth’s research centers on the synthesis, fundamental understanding, and applications of epitaxial quantum materials. He is particularly interested in emergent spin-dependent phenomena that arise at the interface of topology, superconductivity, and magnetism.”