Affiliation: Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Germany

Research Field: Quantum Limits in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Superconductivity

Introduction to Superconductivity and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is the most important experimental tool to explore the world of nanoscience due to its unique capabilities to resolve single atomic structures. STM exploits the tunneling effect to feel the topography of the sample surface at picometer length scales. Beyond the imaging functionality, the tunneling electrons themselves carry a wealth of information about the electronic properties of the substrate. This becomes particularly interesting when superconductivity is involved, because the elementary excitation in a superconductor is a Bogoliubov quasiparticle, a linear superposition of an electron and a hole, but only electrons or holes can tunnel. I will give an introduction to the basics of tunneling in the STM with a particular focus on tunneling between superconductors.