Superconductivity and Nonequilibrium Transport in Mesoscopic Metals

介观金属中的超导性和非平衡输运

• 批准号: 0104178
• 负责人: Norman Birge
• 金额: $ 33万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-07-01 至 2004-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0104178&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Superconductivity; Nonequilibrium; Transport; Mesoscopic; Metals

0104178BirgeThis individual investigator award funds research in electron physics in mesoscopic metallic wires. It exploits microfabrication tools to study processes in solids that occur on submicron length scales. Four topics form the focus of the research; 1) the dephasing and energy exchange between electrons in small metallic wires below 1K; 2) spin-polarized transport in hybrid magnetic/non-magnetic systems; 3) electron transport in superconductor/non-superconductor (normal and magnetic) structures; and 4) growth of and electron transport in self-assembled rare-earth silicide nanowires. In each case the planned experiments are aimed at increasing our understanding of observed phenomena, as well as searching for potential device applications. The graduate students and post-docs working on all four of these projects learn a wide variety of technical skills associated with microfabrication. Their research experience prepares them for jobs in academia, national labs, or industry.%%%A vast array of microfabrication tools has been developed to enable the semiconductor industry to fabricate integrated circuits with millions of transistors on a single chip. Those same tools allow researchers to study the behavior of metals on length scales well below one micrometer, where many new strange phenomena occur. For example, electrons in macroscopic metals at room temperature behave essentially like tennis balls, i.e. they obey the rules of classical physics. In contrast, electrons in sub-micrometer samples at low temperature behave more like waves, i.e. they obey the rules of quantum mechanics. This leads to many interesting properties, such as the fact that some metals become superconducting at low temperature, others are magnetic, and still others remain normal metals. When different kinds of metals are put together, such as superconductors and normal metals, or ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic metals, new things happen. This individual investigator award will fund research into the properties of such very small samples in order to unravel the sometimes-mysterious new behavior, as well as to search for possible new kinds of useful devices. Students and post-doctoral research associates working in this area become familiar with the microfabrication tools used in industry, and they also learn how to think about the physics of very small devices. Former students and post-docs from this research program now work in industry, government labs, and academia.***

0104178Birge 该个人研究员奖资助介观金属线的电子物理研究。 它利用微加工工具来研究亚微米长度尺度上发生的固体过程。 四个主题构成了研究的焦点； 1）1K以下小金属丝中电子间的移相和能量交换； 2）混合磁/非磁系统中的自旋极化输运； 3）超导体/非超导体（普通和磁性）结构中的电子传输； 4）自组装稀土硅化物纳米线的生长和电子传输。 在每种情况下，计划的实验旨在增加我们对观察到的现象的理解，以及寻找潜在的设备应用。 从事所有这四个项目的研究生和博士后学习与微加工相关的各种技术技能。 他们的研究经验为他们在学术界、国家实验室或工业界的工作做好了准备。%%%已经开发出大量微加工工具，使半导体行业能够在单个芯片上制造具有数百万个晶体管的集成电路。 这些相同的工具使研究人员能够研究金属在远低于一微米的长度尺度上的行为，其中会发生许多新的奇怪现象。 例如，室温下宏观金属中的电子的行为本质上就像网球，即它们遵循经典物理规则。 相比之下，低温下亚微米样品中的电子表现得更像波，即它们遵循量子力学规则。 这导致了许多有趣的特性，例如一些金属在低温下变得超导，另一些金属具有磁性，还有一些金属仍然是普通金属。 当不同种类的金属放在一起时，例如超导体和普通金属，或者铁磁性和非磁性金属，就会发生新的事情。 这项个人研究者奖将资助对如此小样本特性的研究，以揭开有时神秘的新行为，并寻找可能的新型有用设备。 在该领域工作的学生和博士后研究员逐渐熟悉工业中使用的微加工工具，并且他们还学习如何思考非常小的设备的物理原理。 该研究项目的前学生和博士后现在在工业界、政府实验室和学术界工作。***