Title

Opportuni es from local noise spectroscopy

Organizers
Milan Allan (Leiden University, Netherlands)
Dario Bercioux (Donos a Interna onal Physics Center, Spain)
Anastasiia Skura vska (Donos a Interna onal Physics Center, Spain)
Ingmar Swart (Utrecht University, Netherlands)

Scien c case
The challenges of the eld and the opportuni es from local noise
Understanding quantum materials is one of the big challenges of modern physics and
materials science.
In quantum materials, ensembles of electrons form exo c states, and the intriguing world of
quantum mechanics dominates the macroscopic proper es of a material in unexpected
ways. Examples include giant magneto-resistance, quantum-cri cality, heavy fermions,
electronic crystals such as ‘stripes’, high-temperature superconduc vity, and newly
discovered topological electronic ma er.
Quantum materials’ unusual physical proper es encompass many of the grand mysteries of
condensed ma er physics, for example, the origin of Cooper pairing in high-temperature
superconduc vity, the consequences of quantum cri cality, and the emergence of new
exo c phases. Importantly, quantum materials could address some of today’s global
challenges in energy transmission and storage and have great commercial poten al. In fact,
high-temperature superconduc vity and giant magnetoresistance are already at the center
of mul -million and mul -billion industries, respec vely.
How can we make progress in our understanding of quantum materials? One way is through
the use of new experimental techniques, and that is where this workshop comes in.
Recently, it has become possible to measure local noise with high resolu on with a
technique we call here scanning tunneling noise microscopy (STNM) – in the literature, this is
also referred to as local noise spectroscopy, noise microscopy, etc. [1,5] (One of the
organizers was involved in this development.) Figure 1a shows schema cally an STNM set-up
consis ng of a scanning tunneling microscope used to obtain images of the material's
surface at the atomic scale and an ampli er circuit to measure the noise. This technique can
detect and di eren ate between the noise origina ng from the single-electron and the
electron-pair tunneling (see Fig. 1b,c), which is used to study the forma on of Cooper pairs
in superconductors, for example.
While noise can o en be seen as an undesired property of nanoscale devices, it is also an
unavoidable/intrinsic property of quantum ma er. Using this new experimental technique,
we take advantage of the noise and can learn from it. The value of the new informa on
obtained using local noise spectroscopy became visible rather quickly.

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 Figure 1: Scanning tunneling noise microcopy and example applica on. a An atomically sharp p scans the
material’s surface, while a cryogenic, high-frequency ampli ca on circuit enables measuring shot noise. b
Example of electron pair detec on. Single electron tunnelling leads to noise that corresponds to one electron
charge (1e), while noise from pairs (by means of Andreev re ec ons) leads to 2e-noise. c E ec ve charge as a
func on of bias (with constant junc on resistance).

Rapidly, several papers have been published showing novel and unexpected results.
Examples:
• Noise centers in high-temperature superconductors have been seen in local noise
measurements done with STNM [2].
• Pairing above Tc has been discovered by detec ng the enhanced noise due to pairing
[3].
• Puta ve Majorana states have been inves gated using STNM [4].
These show how many opportuni es lie in this technique, but the premise for this workshop
is that there is much more poten al in using noise measurement as a tool to probe quantum
ma er.

Goal of the workshop

The local noise spectroscopy is a new measurement technique, that brings interes ng,
intriguing, and at the same me, confusing results. Combining the knowledge from two
areas: surface physics and noise physics, this technique opens up an opportunity for experts
coming from these two areas to communicate. There are two major issues that this
workshop aims to address:
➢First, even though the results so far were surprising, impac ul, and led to discussions, we
believe that there is a need be er interpreta on/modelling of the experimental data. While
there was generally li le doubt about the quality of the di erent experiments, there was
righ ully some doubt about the correct interpreta on of the experimental data. Therefore,
we believe that now is the right moment to bring together di erent communi es working
on the noise physics, both in theory and experiments, to exchange their ideas, discuss and
share their knowledge.
➢Second, since this is a new technique, we want to establish what other opportuni es for
using it exist. Noise measurements have been very successful so far, but we believe that we
can learn more from it. Many strange materials, including excitonic condensates, heavy
fermions, and van der Waals materials, could have unique signatures in noise. However, the
understanding of how to model these signatures is missing.

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 Ques ons to answer
The workshop will speci cally address ques ons related to electronic proper es that emerge
from strong electron-electron interac ons, which can poten ally be resolved through shot-
noise measurements.

1. In the context of the Mo insulator phase arising due to the strong Coulomb repulsion
between the electrons, there have been theore cal proposals of the charge-2e bosonic
excita ons emerging at low energies in doped Mo insulators [6]. The ques on arises
what is the local tunnelling shot-noise response of a system in a Mo insulator state?
2. Another interes ng ques on is related to the frac onal quantum Hall state (FQHS)
whose ground state excita ons have frac onal elementary charge [7]. Can the STNM
detect the forma on of quasipar cles with frac onal charges and provide an
understanding of the microscopic nature of FQHS?
3. Can the shot-noise measurement of local current uctua ons shed light on the nature
of the electronic proper es of so-called strange metals, metals that are not described
by standard Fermi liquid theory. In par cular, what are the current-carriers of strange
metals heavy-fermion compound YbRh2Si2, since recent experiments suggest the
absence of quasipar cles in this material recently studied in Ref. [8].
4. What can STNM tell us about the nature of electron pairing in unconven onal
superconductors, such as nema c superconductors [9] or topological kagome
superconductors [10,11]?
We intend to provide the par cipants with the ques ons before the workshop to enable
more frui ul discussions during the event.


Workshop outcomes
This workshop will be considered a success if it facilitates the discussion around the topic of
local noise physics and brings in new ideas both from theorists and experimentalists on how
to use this technique to be er understand quantum ma er. Therefore, we aim to come up
with ideas of how to model the noise and draw conclusions from it based on the
experimental results that are out there. We further aim to have such ideas published in a
paper, but we do not plan to work on this during the workshop itself – instead, we want to
plant the seeds. We also plan to have an online 1-day workshop a few months a er the
workshop. Hopefully, we are then ready to do concrete work.
Ideally, by the end of the workshop week, par cipants will learn from each other about the
di erent aspects of noise physics and iden fy the key ques ons and ideas on which they can
poten ally collaborate. This is our second goal: that these communi es, who did not really
work on this together before, all have the knowledge and the contacts to con nue working
on noise and to exploit this new technique. In other words, to create a new community.

Program
We aim to construct a program following these general ideas:
1. We want to start by bringing everyone on the same page, to allow for a connec on
of the di erent communi es (theory, experiment, mesoscopic noise experts). We

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 will have half the days of Monday and Tuesday lled with tutorial sessions. We want
talks that are not about the latest results but presen ng an overview of the eld for
people from the di erent communi es the workshop brings together.
2. We want to focus on “opportuni es” during the workshop. Therefore, we want
people to present ideas on what insights could be gained with local noise
spectroscopy, even if not completely thought through. Similarly, we want
experimentalists to discuss what is possible now and what the roadmap looks like.
3. We want to be ‘whiteboard-centered’. There will be many discussions between the
communi es, many ‘free’, and during discussion me, others moderated. To keep
track, we will have one big whiteboard where we compile a list of ideas that come
up, with space for everyone to comment.
In addi on, we will have two break-out sessions about the same theme (i.e. the workshop
theme/goal), but with di erent grouping. The goal is to see how ideas change during the
workshop, and how di erent grouping changes the outcome.
We will have two poster sessions. The rst one is a classic one, where par cipants bring
posters related to the workshop. The second one is more special, where people make their
own posters (on a mobile whiteboard) during the workshop.

Par cipants
To achieve our goals, a small cohort will work be er. That is why we aim to have it at
Snellius, with roughly 20-25 par cipants. Roughly speaking, we plan to invite people from
three communi es: theory experts interested in local noise, experimentalists interested in
local noise, and mesoscopic noise experts. We contacted about >10 people already and
received only posi ve replies.
We will aim for a good mix of ages and an overall diverse a endance.
Regarding gender balance, our experience is that fewer women accept invita ons than men.
We thus aim to invite a bit more and will adver se the diversity “fellowships” (childcare etc)
from the Lorentz Center.

Budget
The budget will be held small. Par cipants will pay for travel. On the other hand, we aim to
have funding for not only the workshop dinner, but at least one addi onal “bar-bites”
evening. The reasoning is that our communi es tend to need some social grease.

Dates
20. - 24. November 2023

References:
[1] K. M. Bas aans et al., "Ampli er for scanning tunneling microscopy at MHz frequencies",
Review of Scien c Instruments 89.9 (2018): 093709.
[2] K. M. Bas aans et al., "Charge trapping and super-Poissonian noise centres in a cuprate
superconductor", Nature Physics 14.12 (2018): 1183-1187.
[3] K. M. Bas aans et al., "Direct evidence for Cooper pairing without a spectral gap in a
disordered superconductor above Tc", Science 374.6567 (2021): 608-611.

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 [4] J.-F- Ge et al., "Determina on of the charge transfer when tunneling into puta ve
Majorana modes in individual vor ces in FeTe0.55Se0.45", arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.10346
(2022).
[5] I. Tamir et al., "Shot-noise measurements of single-atom junc ons using a scanning
tunneling microscope", Review of Scien c Instruments 93.2 (2022): 023702.
[6] G. L. Robert et al., "Hidden Charge 2e Boson in Doped Mo Insulators", Physical Review
Le ers 99, 046404 (2007).
[7] S. Biswas et al., “Shot noise does not always provide the quasipar cle charge”, Nature.
Physics 18, 1476–1481 (2022).
[8] L. Chen et al., "Shot noise indicates the lack of quasipar cles in a strange metal", arXiv
preprint arXiv:2206.00673 (2022).
[9] R. M. Fernandes and L. Fu, “Charge-4e Superconduc vity from Mul component Nema c
Pairing: Applica on to Twisted Bilayer Graphene”, Physical Review Le ers 127, 047001
(2021).
[10] J.-X-Yin,B. Lian and M.Z. Hasan, “Topological kagome magnets and superconductors”,
Nature 612, 647 (2022).
[11] S. Zhou and Z. Wang, “Chern Fermi pocket, topological pair density wave, and charge-4e
and charge-6e superconduc vity in kagomé superconductors”, Nature Communica ons 13,
7288 (2022).

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