Van-der-Waals Integration of Hybrid Devices

Progress in solid state physics is often tied to the emergence of material systems hosting new electronic properties. Specifically, the interface between different materials can yield new way to control the band-structures and interaction effects, giving rise to new functionalities. Particular recent interest is given to “van der Waals materials”. Here, weak inter-layer bonds allow exfoliation into ultra-thin layers. Moreover, such materials can be vertically stacked with high precision, creating a range of new types of heterostructure. In my talk I will describe a number of experiments based on such van der Waals stacks. These include: (1) Superconducting tunneling spectroscopy using a layered insulator as a tunnel barrier; (2) Soliton dynamics in graphene-based mode-locked lasers, and (3) defect-assisted tunneling for charge and energy spectroscopy.