or X.C.M. (xcma@iphy.ac.cn).Searching for superconducting materials with high transition temperature (T C ) is one of the most exciting and challenging fields in physics and materials science.Although superconductivity has been discovered for more than 100 years, the copper oxides are so far the only materials with T C above 77 K, the liquid nitrogen boiling point 1,2 . Here we report an interface engineering method for dramatically raising the T C of superconducting films. We find that one unit-cell (UC) thick films of FeSe grown on SrTiO 3 (STO) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) show signatures of superconducting transition above 50 K by transport measurement. A superconducting gap as large as 20 meV of the 1 UC films observed by scanning tunneling microcopy (STM) suggests that the superconductivity could occur above 77 K. The occurrence of superconductivity is further supported by the presence of superconducting vortices under magnetic field. Our work not only demonstrates a powerful way for finding new superconductors and for raising T C , but also provides a well-defined platform for systematic study of the mechanism of unconventional superconductivity by using different superconducting materials and substrates.

Stable ferroelectricity with high transition temperature in nanostructures is needed for miniaturizing ferroelectric devices. Here, we report the discovery of the stable in-plane spontaneous polarization in atomic-thick tin telluride (SnTe), down to a 1-unit cell (UC) limit. The ferroelectric transition temperature T(c) of 1-UC SnTe film is greatly enhanced from the bulk value of 98 kelvin and reaches as high as 270 kelvin. Moreover, 2- to 4-UC SnTe films show robust ferroelectricity at room temperature. The interplay between semiconducting properties and ferroelectricity in this two-dimensional material may enable a wide range of applications in nonvolatile high-density memories, nanosensors, and electronics.

Superconductivity in the cuprate superconductors and the Fe-based superconductors is realized by doping the parent compound with charge carriers, or by application of high pressure, to suppress the antiferromagnetic state. Such a rich phase diagram is important in understanding superconductivity mechanism and other physics in the Cu-and Fe-based high temperature superconductors.In this paper, we report a phase diagram in the single-layer FeSe films grown on SrTiO 3 substrate by an annealing procedure to tune the charge carrier concentration over a wide range. A dramatic change of the band structure and Fermi surface is observed, with two distinct phases identified that are competing during the annealing process. Superconductivity with a record high transition temperature (T c ) at 65±5 K is realized by optimizing the annealing process. The wide tunability of the system across different phases, and its high-T c , make the single-layer FeSe film ideal not only to investigate the superconductivity physics and mechanism, but also to study novel quantum phenomena and for potential applications.

We report direct imaging of standing waves of the nontrivial surface states of topological insulator Bi2Te3 using a scanning tunneling microscope. The interference fringes are caused by the scattering of the topological states off Ag impurities and step edges on the Bi2Te3(111) surface. By studying the voltage-dependent standing wave patterns, we determine the energy dispersion E(k), which confirms the Dirac cone structure of the topological states. We further show that, very different from the conventional surface states, backscattering of the topological states by nonmagnetic impurities is completely suppressed. The absence of backscattering is a spectacular manifestation of the time-reversal symmetry, which offers a direct proof of the topological nature of the surface states.