As thin as it gets: Physics of 2D Materials and Heterostructures

Two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures attract a large community of scientists throughout the world. A vast variety of properties, depending on the crystal structure and composition, are feasible: while graphene is characterized by a linear band structure where valence and conduction bands touch in the so-called Dirac points, hexagonal boron nitride is an insulator with a rather large bandgap. Transition metal dichalcogenides or black phosphorus are semiconductors, bridging the gap between graphene and insulating materials. Combining these materials into heterostructures is highly attractive as it can improve the quality, for example, boron nitride is a perfect substrate for graphene, enabling extremely high carrier mobilities even at room temperature. Furthermore, the combination of other 2D materials can lead to properties that couldn’t be achieved in a single material: a heterostructure of transition metal dichalcogenides can host long-lived electron-hole pairs that feature a very long lifetime, making it a promising material system for future quantum processing. Moiré superlattices of bilayer graphene can fundamentally alter the electronic band structure, etc.

This school on 2D materials aims to provide a profound and interdisciplinary overview to Master and Ph.D. students. The lectures focus on synthesis, sample fabrication, properties and characterization of 2D-materials and heterostructures, including insights into some of the most recent advances of research. The 15 speakers will focus on the most relevant topics, including the ones that are probably underrepresented in the standard “physicist’s field of view”, namely biological properties and applications, chemical routes to deterministic assembly of 2D structures, or giving an industrial perspective on this topic.

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