PIRE: International consortium for probing novel superconductors with neutrons, muons, photons and STM

这个PIRE项目组成了一个由美国领先的超导研究人员组成的国际联盟，日本、加拿大、英国和中国将研究新型超导体，以阐明超导机制和特性，并开发新型超导材料。在传统的电气系统中，当电子与金属丝中的原子和杂质碰撞时，摩擦产生热量，这种特性对于烤面包机或熨斗等电器来说是理想的，但对于大多数其他电气应用来说则不是。超导性可以被认为是“无摩擦”的电，电子在原子之间不受阻碍地滑动，从而大大提高了导体的能量效率。到目前为止，这只能在极低的温度下实现;挑战是在室温或接近室温和高电流下利用这种现象。该项目将填补我们目前对超导性理解的空白，协调当前的理论，并推动快速性能设备和节省成本的电动机，发电机和输电线路的更好材料的开发。该项目利用强大的实验探测技术，包括中子散射、μ子自旋弛豫、X射线散射、拉曼光谱和扫描隧道显微镜，将领先的材料实验学家和杰出的理论家联系起来，研究FeAs、CuO、CeCoIn 5和URu 2Si 2超导体。这些先进的方法可以阐明这些重要的新材料的相图，其中一些重要的方面是目前未知的。PIRE团队将探索影响某种材料超导的最高温度的参数，以及提高该温度的方法，以便超导性不需要如此昂贵的制冷。一些异常的超流密度和比热不连续性，不符合超导的标准理论，也将在实验和理论研究。国际合作对这项工作至关重要，因为它将为美国科学家和学生提供在英国和加拿大而不是在美国提供的关键的世界级加速器基础设施，中国和日本制造的高质量标本，以及来自所有国家的一流科学专业知识。将多个探针对相同高质量标本的结果进行组合和比较，将显著提高数据的准确性。理论家和实验家面对面的合作，专注于关键概念，将促进数学理论转化为现实和有效的模型和材料。该项目非常重视培养学生和早期职业科学家。学生和博士后研究人员将进行为期3-6个月的研究访问，在国外研究超导机制，在那里他们还将接受语言和文化培训。该项目将通过为纽约贫困学校的高中学生和教师举办讲习班，并通过关于超导和扫描隧道显微镜的推广方案，积极招募少数民族学生进入科学领域。高中生和本科生将通过该项目获得宝贵的束流时间经验，而在物理科学领域代表性不足的女学生将获得团队中四位女性领先科学家的宝贵指导。PIRE团队还将开发一套当代的、基于互联网的固态物理讲座和一本介绍固态物理的教科书，反映凝聚态物理和相关实验技术的当前知识。该项目将加强美国机构的材料研究项目并使其国际化，并使更多的美国学生参与国际研究合作。它将把哥伦比亚大学及其学生和教师置于研究和教育伙伴关系的核心，并为参与的教师和学生提供广泛的研究合作，教学合作和频繁的互惠研究访问。影响超出了PI和他的机构，包括为美国学生提供在两个能源部美国国家实验室（橡树岭和洛斯阿拉莫斯）的研究机会，并在英国的ISIS和加拿大的TRIUMF设施培训早期职业科学家，这两个设施都将为美国和日本目前正在建设的新探测设施建立核心劳动力。该PIRE项目将建立在现有的美洲材料科学网络（CIAM）的基础上，并为五个参与国的科学家和机构之间的长期研究和教育合作奠定基础，所有这些都将推进超导及其应用的最新技术。参与的美国机构包括哥伦比亚大学（纽约）、田纳西大学诺克斯维尔分校、能源部的橡树岭和洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室。国外机构包括中国科学院物理研究所、英国布里斯托大学、英国科学技术设施理事会的ISIS设施、加拿大麦克马斯特大学、加拿大TRIUMF粒子与核物理国家实验室、日本东京大学、日本大坂大学、日本东北大学、该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室和材料研究部共同资助。

This PIRE project forms an international consortium of leading superconductivity researchers from the U.S., Japan, Canada, UK, and China to investigate novel superconductors to clarify superconducting mechanisms and properties and develop novel superconducting materials. In conventional electrical systems heat is generated by friction as electrons collide with atoms and impurities in the wire, a property that is ideal for appliances such as toasters or irons but not for most other electrical applications. Superconductivity can be thought of as "frictionless" electricity whereby electrons glide unimpeded between atoms, thus vastly improving the conductor's energy efficiency. To date this has only been achieved at extremely low temperatures; the challenge is to harness this phenomenon at or near room temperature and at high electrical currents. This project will fill gaps in our current understanding of superconductivity, reconcile current theories, and advance the development of better materials for fast-performing devices and cost-saving electric motors, generators, and power transmission lines. The project links leading materials experimentalists and eminent theorists in a study of FeAs, CuO, CeCoIn5, and URu2Si2 superconductors using powerful experimental probing techniques including neutron scattering, muon spin relaxation, X-ray scattering, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy. These advanced methods allow elucidation of the phase diagrams of these important new materials of which some significant aspects are currently unknown. The PIRE team will explore the parameters affecting the highest temperature at which a certain material is superconducting and ways of increasing that temperature so that superconductivity will not require such expensive refrigeration. Some anomalies in the superfluid density and specific heat discontinuities, inconsistent with the standard theory of superconductivity, will also be investigated both experimentally and theoretically. International collaboration is essential for this work because it will provide U.S. scientists and students with access to critical world-class accelerator-based facilities available in the UK and Canada but not in the U.S., to high quality specimens fabricated in China and Japan, and to first-rate scientific expertise from all countries. Combining and comparing the results of multiple probes on the same high-quality specimens will significantly improve the accuracy of data. Face to face collaboration of theorists and experimentalists focused on key concepts will facilitate the translation of mathematical theory into realistic and effective models and materials. The project places great emphasis on training students and early career scientists. Students and postdoctoral researchers will undertake 3-6 month research visits to work on superconducting mechanisms at foreign sites, where they will also receive language and cultural training. The project will actively recruit minority students into the sciences via workshops for high-school students and teachers from disadvantaged schools in New York and via an outreach program on superconductivity and scanning tunneling microscopy. High school and undergraduate students will gain valuable beam-time experience through the project, and female students, who are as a group underrepresented in the physical sciences, will be provided valuable mentoring from four female leading scientists on the team. The PIRE team will also develop a contemporary, internet-based set of solid state physics lectures and a text book on introductory solid state physics that reflect current knowledge in condensed matter physics and related experimental techniques. The project will strengthen and internationalize materials research programs at the U.S. institutions and engage more U.S. students in international research collaborations. It will place Columbia University and its students and faculty at the core of a research and education partnership with extensive research collaborations, teaching cooperation, and frequent reciprocal research visits for participating faculty and students. Impacts extend beyond the PI and his institution, including providing U.S. students with research opportunities at two Department of Energy U.S. National Laboratories (Oak Ridge and Los Alamos) and training of early career scientists at the UK's ISIS and Canada's TRIUMF facilities, both of which will build the core workforce for new probing facilities currently under construction in the U.S. and Japan. This PIRE project will build upon an existing Inter American materials science network (CIAM) and forge a foundation for long-term research and educational collaborations among scientists and institutions in the five participating nations, all advancing the state-of-the-art in superconductivity and its applications. Participating U.S. institutions include Columbia University (NY), University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge (TN) and Los Alamos (NM) National Laboratories. Foreign institutions include Institute of Physics - Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Bristol (UK), the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council's ISIS facility, McMaster University (Canada), TRIUMF Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, Tokyo University (Japan), Osaka University (Japan), Tohoku University (Japan), and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) (Japan).This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Materials Research.