Dr. rer. nat. Christoph Kastl

Courses and Dates

Offered Bachelor’s or Master’s Theses Topics

Optoelectronics of two-dimensional topological van der Waals materials

Atomically thin van der Waals crystals form truly two-dimensional materials with remarkable quantum effects. One example is the two-dimensional topological insulator phase, where a two-dimensional sheet of material is insulating, but has conductive one-dimensional edge states. Because of their special topology, these edge states are very robust and can transport both spin and charge, which can find application in quantum information technologies. The goal of this project is to prepare single atomic layers from novel topological materials (such as MoTe2, WTe2 or HfT5) and to study the topological edge conductivity by optoelectronic microscopy. The material properties will be characterized by different spectroscopies (such as atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy). Different layered materials will be combined into few-nm thin heterostructures and they will be integrated into electronic field effect structures to switch the topological states on and off. Interest or good knowledge in solid state physics, semiconductor physics, Python programming, optoelectronics or nanofabrication is a plus, but certainly not a must.

suitable as

• Bachelor’s Thesis Physics

Supervisor: Alexander Holleitner