EAGER: SUPER: Light and Warm Polariton Driven Superconductors (PoDS)

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Nontechnical AbstractThis EAGER project aims to utilize light to control electron flow, so as to turn an electronic material into a conductor of zero resistance--a superconductor--under readily accessible conditions. Superconductivity at accessible temperatures and pressure has been one of the key research objectives in quantum physics and materials science. Once realized, it would have enormous impact on society, from energy efficiency of the electrical grid to thermal management of integrated chips and reduced electrical consumption. The team will perform a combined theoretical-experimental study to explore a new pathway toward this goal, utilizing coherent light (lasers) to "drive" electrons into a superconducting state, via integrating novel quantum materials with specially designed photonic structures. In addition, graduate and undergraduate students will be trained on a wide range of state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental tools and techniques through a close theory-experiment collaboration at the cross-disciplinary cutting edge of condensed-matter physics, quantum optics, low-dimensional materials, and nano-photonics.Technical AbstractSuperconductivity is a crown jewel of modern condensed-matter physics. Although the fundamental mechanism of a Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductor has been understood since the 1950s, higher critical temperature continues to be a grand challenge, as we have been mostly at the mercy of material properties given by nature. In recent years, however, technologies have been developed to exert unprecedented control over materials to alter or even to engineer their properties. Motivated by recent theoretical discoveries of new superconducting mechanisms, breakthroughs in van der Waals heterostructures, and advances in sophisticated photonic structures, the team will explore a potentially more versatile and practical pathway toward high Tc--polariton driven superconductors--where a highly controllable, high-temperature polariton superfluid provides a new mechanism for Cooper-pair formation. The project will develop the fundamental understanding and key technologies for a new type of superconductor controllable by light, including how to use an ultra-light superfluid to introduce and control strong pairing potentials between electrons in the proximity, effects and limitations of electron band dispersion, and the influence of dimensionality on superconductivity. It will advance multiple research frontiers spanning materials science, quantum photonics, condensed-matter physics, theoretical physics, and potentially particle physics through the deep connection between the Anderson-Higgs mechanism in superconductors and the Higgs mechanism in particle physics.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.