Edge channels in graphene with proximity-induced Spin-Orbit Interaction

Enhancing spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene may lead to new properties, including a possible Quantum Spin Hall state, characterized by counterpropagating, spin-polarized channels at the edges of graphene.
We previously demonstrated how graphene coupled to Transition Metal Dichalcogenides (TMDs) acquires a strong and mirror-symmetric spin-orbit interaction, especially with monolayers of WSe2 and WS2. The signature of induced spin-orbit was weak antilocalization (positive magnetoresistance) in mesoscopic samples with normal contacts at low temperature [1, 2].
In this talk I will present our recent measurements of supercurrents induced through graphene/WS2 heterostructures connected to high-critical-field superconductors. I will discuss how signatures of edge conduction are detected for both graphene coupled to hBN and graphene coupled to WS2 in short Josephson junctions, but how the edge channels are far more dominant in long junctions of graphene coupled to WS2, and visible also at high magnetic fields applied perpendicularly to the graphene plane.
[1] T. Wakamura et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 106802 (2018) .
[2] T. Wakamura et al., Phys. Rev. B 99, 245402 (2019).