John Birkbeck – Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science.
Title: The Quantum Twisting Microscope

Abstract: In this talk, I will present a new type of scanning probe microscope, the Quantum Twisting Microscope (QTM), capable of performing local quantum interference measurements at a twistable interface between two quantum materials. Its working principle is based on a unique tip made of an atomically-thin two-dimensional material. This tip allows electrons to coherently tunnel into a sample at many locations at once, with quantum interference between these tunneling events, making it a scanning electronic interferometer. With an extra twist degree of freedom, our microscope becomes a momentum-resolving local probe, providing powerful new ways to study the energy dispersions of interacting electrons. I will present various experiments performed with this microscope, demonstrating quantum interference at room temperature, probing the conductance of in-situ twisting interfaces, and imaging local energy dispersions of graphene and twisted bilayer graphene.

Speaker Bio: I am a postdoctoral researcher working at the Weizmann Institute of Science with Prof. Shahal Ilani. I completed my Ph.D. with Prof. Andre Geim and Prof. Irina Grigorieva at the University of Manchester, UK. My research focuses on using unique scanning probe microscopes to visualize the electronic properties of 2D materials and vdW heterostructures.