Highly motivated researcher wanted !

TOPNESlogoWe are recruiting and look for highly motivated postdoctoral researchers who are keen to do cutting edge research and work with multiple techniques. This position is within the collaborative programme grant TOPNES, for details please have a look at the Job advert AR1676ML (Research Fellow in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics).

In this position, as the successful applicant you will work with Peter Wahl and Phil King to study oxide surfaces and interfaces, specifically the electronic structure and low-density superconductivity in bulk and reduced-dimensional SrTiO3-based systems.  The work will involve employing state-of-the-art equipment for scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy in St Andrews, as well as working at international synchrotron light sources. In addition to using existing state-of-the-art spectroscopic probes, you will also work on integrating these with a new system for reactive-oxide molecular beam epitaxy for the study of atomic-scale SrTiO3-based designer heterostructures.

Ultra-low Vibration Labs Now Open!

Education Secretary Angela Constance officially opened our new ultra-low vibration (ULV) labs on 21 May. The event was attended by over 100 colleagues and guests. See full details and images here.

The St Andrews ULV labs are the most advanced in the UK and one of just a handful worldwide. The labs are designed to provide an ultra-low vibration environment for the custom-built microscopes developed in the group. We can now continue imaging and study of individual atoms in advanced materials, including superconductors which conduct electricity without losses, and quantum materials for next generation technologies.

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Media coverage:

Meet us at Vortex 2015

You can hear about our work at Vortex 2015 in El Escorial, Spain. We’ll have two contributions:

  • Monday, May 11th, 11:30-11:55: Peter Wahl: “Superconducting gap and vortex lattice of the heavy fermion compound CeCu2Si2“
  • Thursday, May 14th, 10:40-10:55: Ana Maldonado: “Dirac surface states and superconductivity in noncentrosymmetric BiPd”

Ultra-low vibration labs coming online

Our ultra-low vibration (ULV) labs are coming online. See below a photo of the almost completed building. We will soon start the first measurements in this bespoke new facility.

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New paper: Dirac Surface States and Nature of Superconductivity in Noncentrosymmetric BiPd

Superconducoverimage3ctivity in non-centrosymmetric material promises to be unconventional, the lack of spatial inversion symmetry allows for a triplet component of the order parameter. For various non-centrosymmetric materials, evidence for a triplet component of the order parameter has been put forward.
In this paper, we show that in BiPd superconductivity looks much more conventional when zooming in to the atomic scale by ultra-low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). What’s more, STM results are consistent with macroscopic characterization by specific heat, whereas electric transport measurements are not – suggesting that electric transport detects signatures from defects in the material rather than being representative of bulk behaviour.
Our measurements further show signatures of Dirac surface states, confirmed by relativistic ab-initio calculations.

Read the full paper at

  • Z. Sun, M. Enayat, A. Maldonado, C. Lithgow, E. Yelland, D.C. Peets, A. Yaresko, A.P. Schnyder and P. Wahl, Dirac Surface States and Nature of Superconductivity in Noncentrosymmetric BiPd, Nat. Commun. 6, 6633 (2015) (open), arxiv/1407.5667.

Meet us at the DPG Spring Meeting

Another opportunity to learn more about our work is at the DPG spring meeting in Berlin. We have the following contributions:

See also work done in collaboration with the Nanoscale Science Department of Prof. Klaus Kern at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany:

Meet us at the APS March Meeting

Hear more about our research at the APS march meeting in San Antonio. We have the following contributions:

Also check out contributions from other members of condensed matter physics in St Andrews by Chris Hooley, Phil King, Elliott Levi, Jean-Philippe Reid and Sam Ridgway.

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