Quantum Materials in High Magnetic Fields

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Superconducting materials are exciting quantum systems in which electrical current flows without resistance with extreme current densities. Additionally, magnetic fields created in superconducting coils are huge and can persist for long periods and a supercurrent can be created across small junctions due their phase coherence. Due to their incredible properties, superconductors enable novel technologies from energy generation, transmission and storage, healthcare, transport, quantum computers and powerful motors of the future. Thus, understanding complex superconducting quantum materials with improved properties to operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures requires a detailed knowledge of their electronic phases that promote the pairing of electrons and the stability of superconductivity to various experimental conditions. This project will explore the fundamental behaviour of superconducting and normal electronic states in novel superconducting materials in order to understand the key ingredients responsible for the stability of the superconducting phases. We will explore the transport and thermodynamic properties using different experimental techniques at low temperature and high magnetic fields in order to construct superconducting phase diagrams, to determine critical currents and to establish the relevant electronic properties. The project will explore the tunability of the superconducting and its competing electronic phases using applied strain in high quality single crystals and thin flake devices. The signatures of quantum behaviour will be explored via quantum oscillations in very high magnetic fields. These studies are essential to provide a complete fundamental characterization of novel superconductors in order to develop realistic theoretical models and enable the development of future applications.The experiments will be performed both in Oxford, using the facilities of the Oxford Centre for Applied Superconductivity and high-magnetic field facilities, as well as at international high-magnetic field laboratories in Europe and USA. Additional measurements will be carried out in collaboration with Oxford Instruments Nanoscience, with a view to improving the company's range of instruments.