Nanoscale Study of Unconventional Superconductivity and Topological Phenomena in Complex Oxide and Intermetallic Materials

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This project is intended to study, using a unique combination of nanoscale measurement and synthesis techniques, the unconventional superconductivity and topological phenomena in several complex oxide and intermetallic materials. The complex oxides include the transition-metal cuprates and ruthenates. The intermetallic compounds include the iron-pnictides/chalcogenides and the heavy-metal chalcogenides. These materials and nanolayered heterostructures based on them will be measured using cryomagnetic scanning tunneling spectroscopy and point contact Andreev-reflection spectroscopy, performed down to 300mK and up to 16Tesla. The samples will be in the form of single crystals or thin films. The complex-oxide thin films will be epitaxially grown using pulsed laser-ablated deposition, which enables layer-by-layer heterostructuring via in-situ growth monitoring with reflective high-energy electron diffraction. The scientific goal of this project is to examine the essential characteristics of these quantum materials phenomena, towards elucidating the underlying physical mechanisms. The technological goal is to harness these materials phenomena for use in nanoelectronic devices such as high-speed field effect transistors, and in more esoteric applications such as topological quantum computing elements.