Synthesis and Advanced Characterization of Quantum Materials

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This proposal seeks support for my research program in the experimental study of Quantum Materials. These materials are important both for their future use in applications and because they are often not described by traditional theories. Such systems include high temperature superconductors including the newly discovered pnictides, low dimensional and geometrically frustrated magnets and materials with topological order. My research program is highly collaborative and interdisciplinary in nature, involving international leading scientists and both graduate and undergraduate students in all stages of the research. As a direct result of this research we will discover and characterize magnetic systems with a variety of exotic ground states including both quantum and classical quantum spin ices and liquids. We will identify possible broken time reversal symmetry superconducting states and perform detailed studies of the fundamental properties of newly discovered superconductors. Magnetic systems to be studied include pyrochlore iridates which combine strong spin-orbit coupling and topological order with geometrical frustration. We will synthesize other pyrochlores such as Tb2GeO7, Yb2GeO7, Ho2Ge2O7, Pr2Pb2O7 and Nd2Pb2O7 then perform muon spin relaxation, neutron scattering, magnetization and other studies using both in-house and international user facilities to identify a variety of novel magnetic ground states. We will synthesize other systems with geometrical frustration including the spinels BaHo2O4 and FeV2O4, searching for exotic ground states and novel emergent spin excitations. We will perform detailed muon spin relaxation/rotation studies of the doped topological insulator CuxBi2Se3 and other potential topological superconductors to search for evidence of a topological superconducting state. We will continue our study of Sr2RuO4 which has been identified as a chiral p-wave topological superconductor, using ß-NMR to search for characteristic edge currents near the sample surface. We will continue our efforts to fully understand the electronic and magnetic states of URu2Si2. We will use chemical substitutions to drive the system to a quantum critical point, using muons and neutrons with bulk techniques to study this evolution. My research program is at an exciting juncture with new experimental facilities coming online at present in the imminent future. These include new muon beamlines at TRIUMF with enhanced capabilities, greatly increased beamtime for ß-NMR due to the development of an additional driver accelerator and the development of a very low temperature (T<0.5K) spectrometer for ß-NMR. A new SQUID magnetometer with 3He capability (T<0.5K) will be installed in my laboratory during late 2013. The proposed studies will involve a wide range of experimental techniques, starting with materials synthesis using optical image and tri-arc furnaces. We will measure magnetic susceptibility down to 0.5K using our new low temperature SQUID magnetometer (a unique capability in Canada). We will perturb systems using extreme conditions of high magnetic field and hydrostatic pressure. We will use both conventional and low energy muon spin relaxation/rotation and ß-NMR to measure the local real space magnetic behavior in both bulk and thin film specimens. Finally, my students and I will collaborate with leading groups for studies using a variety of experimental techniques including scanning tunneling microscopy, neutron scattering and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.