Confinement-Engineered Superconductor to Correlated-Insulator Transition in a van der Waals Monolayer

Abstract

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) are a rich family of two-dimensional materials displaying a multitude of different quantum ground states. In particular, d³ TMDCs are paradigmatic materials hosting a variety of symmetry broken states, including charge density waves, superconductivity, and magnetism. Among this family, NbSe₂ is one of the best-studied superconducting materials down to the monolayer limit. Despite its superconducting nature, a variety of results point toward strong electronic repulsions in NbSe₂. Here, we control the strength of the interactions experimentally via quantum confinement and use low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) to demonstrate that NbSe₂ is in close proximity to a correlated insulating state. This reveals the coexistence of competing interactions in NbSe₂, creating a transition from a superconducting to an insulating quantum correlated state by confinement-controlled interactions. Our results demonstrate the dramatic role of interactions in NbSe₂, establishing NbSe₂ as a correlated superconductor with competing interactions.