Electronic order and superconductivity in 1T-IrTe2 nano-flakes

We propose to explore how the atomic lattice and, consequently, the electronic structure evolve when the thickness of layered van der Waals (vdW) materials reduces from several hundreds of layers down to just a few layers. Interestingly, the macroscopic physical properties for many of these layered materials change as the number of layers becomes small. It is clear that these effects need to be understood in order to effectively exploit them in novel technological applications. To this end, we want to use cutting-edge x-ray diffraction (XRD) to monitor the structural changes as a function of thickness in nano-flakes of the prominent vdW material 1T-IrTe2, in which electronic order and superconductivity exist and potentially interact in a non-trivial manner. Knowledge of the precise atomic structure, which is hitherto widely unknown, will enable us to develop realistic theoretical models that effectively describe the electronic structure on the verge of the 2D-limit.