Electronic and magnetic characterization of epitaxial VSe₂ monolayers on superconducting NbSe₂

Abstract There has been enormous recent interest in heterostructures of two-dimensional van der Waals materials. Integrating materials with different quantum ground states in vertical heterostructures is predicted to lead to novel electronic properties that are not found in the constituent layers. Here, we present direct synthesis of a superconductor-magnet hybrid heterostructure by combining superconducting niobium diselenide (NbSe₂) with the monolayer vanadium diselenide (VSe₂). Molecular-beam epitaxy growth in ultra-high vacuum yields clean and atomically sharp interfaces. Combining different characterization techniques and density-functional theory calculations, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of VSe₂ on NbSe₂. Low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy measurements show an absence of the typical charge density wave on VSe₂ and demonstrate a reduction of the superconducting gap of NbSe₂ on the VSe₂ layer. This suggests magnetization of the VSe₂ sheet, at least on the local scale. Our work demonstrates superconducting-magnetic hybrid materials with potential applications in future electronics devices