Thickness dependence of Electronic order and superconductivity in 1T-IrTe2 nano-flakes

The objective of this proposal is to investigate the evolution of the atomic lattice and the electronic order in layered van der Waals (vdW) materials as a function of their thickness, ranging from bulk to few-layer and ultimately two-dimensional (2D) systems. These materials exhibit remarkable changes in their macroscopic physical properties as they approach the 2D limit, which are of great interest for novel technological applications. We want to employ state-of-the-art x-ray diffraction (XRD) to monitor the structural changes as a function of thickness, temperature and pressure in nano-flakes of the prototypical vdW material 1T-IrTe2, which hosts electronic order and superconductivity and may exhibit a complex interplay between them. The accurate determination of the atomic structure will allow us to construct realistic theoretical models that effectively capture the electronic structure of this material when its thickness approaches the 2D-limit.