Novel Superconducting Physics Through Microwave Imaging

非技术摘要：超导是一项改变游戏规则的技术，它使磁共振成像能够广泛用于医疗诊断，是新兴量子信息革命的领先技术平台。该研究项目解决了超导技术满足社会需求的一些重大挑战：寻找一种能够实现高影响力技术的室温超导体，从而为国家带来巨大财富。这种材料将给电力分配和信息技术带来革命性的变化，为社会带来无与伦比的好处。PI发明和开发了一种新的显微镜，专门用于成像超导材料的性质，这使得对这些新的超导材料的研究成为可能。这是与马里兰大学和罗格斯大学创意材料种植者合作开展的发现过程的一部分。该项目还将严格训练两名研究生攻击复杂问题，并以创造性和量化的方式解决它们。学生们将继续为超导体进一步发展成为高影响和广泛受益的技术做出贡献。国际超导学会继续通过研究纳入和推广活动解决代表不足的群体，如物理IS Phun和物理暑期女孩计划。技术摘要：研究小组正在用他们自己发明的新型显微镜研究尖端超导现象。PI开发了一种新的微观工具，可以在真实空间中成像超导带隙节点方向，并测量由于节点带隙结构而存在的零能激发。PI的显微镜成像超导体的非线性迈斯纳响应，以及存在于超导材料表面的任何其他零能激发的非线性响应(例如，Andreev束缚态、Majorana零模等)。该研究项目的目标是阐明具有奇异性质的新型超导材料的对态对称性，例如邻近耦合的S波/拓扑绝缘体系统，以及假设j=3/2自旋配对的超导体。PI的显微镜特别适合于研究这些材料中预测的Bogoliubov费米面。该团队还在研究两个系统，这两个系统被认为会随着掺杂或压力的变化而改变配对态对称性。该显微镜还可以灵敏地测量复杂的表面阻抗作为温度的函数，以提供关于成像结果的交叉检查信息。该团队正在开发一种新的高压版本的显微镜，用于在以前从未完成过此类测量的极端条件下测量超导体的非接触迈斯纳态屏蔽和宏观量子性质。在马里兰州和罗格斯大学创造性材料合作者的帮助下，该团队将这种新的显微镜作为一个强大的工具，在温度-掺杂-压力相图中发现和研究奇异超导体的基本性质。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-technical Abstract:Superconductivity is a game-changing technology that has enabled widespread use of magnetic resonance imaging for medical diagnosis, and is the leading technology platform in the emerging quantum information revolution. The research project addresses some of the grand challenges of superconductivity for societal needs: The search for a room temperature superconductor that will enable high-impact technologies that will generate tremendous wealth for the nation. Such materials will revolutionize the distribution of electricity as well as information technology, bringing unparalleled benefit to society. The search for these new superconducting materials is enabled by the PI’s invention and development of a new microscope specifically designed to image the properties of superconducting materials. It is part of a discovery process carried out in collaboration with creative materials growers at the University of Maryland and Rutgers University. The project will also rigorously train two graduate students to attack complex problems and solve them in a creative and quantitative manner. The students will go on to contribute to the further development of superconductors into high-impact and widely beneficial technologies. The PI continues to address under-represented groups through both research inclusion and outreach such as Physics is Phun and the Physics Summer Girls Program.Technical Abstract: The research team is investigating cutting-edge superconducting phenomena with a novel microscope of their own invention. The PI has developed a new microscopic tool that can image superconducting gap nodal directions in real space, and measure zero-energy excitations that exist due to nodal gap structure. The PI’s microscope images the nonlinear Meissner response of superconductors along with nonlinear response from any other zero-energy excitations that live on the surface of the superconducting material (e.g. Andreev bound states, Majorana zero modes, etc.). The research project goals are to elucidate the pairing state symmetry of new superconducting materials with exotic properties such as proximity-coupled s-wave / topological insulator systems, and superconductors with putative j = 3/2 spin pairing. The PI’s microscope is particularly well suited to investigate the predicted Bogoliubov Fermi surface in these materials. The team is also investigating two systems that are proposed to have a change in pairing state symmetry as a function of either doping or pressure. The microscope can also sensitively measure the complex surface impedance as a function of temperature to provide cross-checking information on the imaging results. The team is developing a new high-pressure version of the microscope to measure contact-free the Meissner state screening and macroscopic quantum properties of superconductors under extreme conditions where such measurements have never been accomplished before. With the assistance of creative materials collaborators at Maryland and Rutgers, the team is using this new microscope as a powerful tool for discovery and investigation of the basic properties of exotic superconductors in the temperature-doping-pressure phase diagram.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.