Optics of Quantum Materials

量子材料光学

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-06865
• 负责人: Timusk, Thomas
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=679903
• 关键词: Optics; Quantum; Materials

Superconductivity happens when certain metals lose their electrical resistance at low temperatures. Superconductors are used in hospital MRI machines and in research where high magnetic fields are required. Superconducting materials require expensive cooling and a long term goal is to find a material that is superconducting at room temperature. Such a discovery would revolutionize the electrical power industry. The ultra-high magnetic fields of a room temperature superconductor would lower the size and cost of a fusion reactor promising a boundless supply of pollution-free electrical power and we will look forward to a future where the word electricity is replaced by superconductivity. A recent step towards room temperature superconductivity was the discovery by Mikahil Eremets of superconductivity of liquid hydrogen sulphide compressed between diamond tips to a pressure of 2 million atmospheres with superconductivity starting at a record breaking temperature of -68 degrees Celsius, but still short of room temperature. We formed a collaboration with Eremets, the theorist Jules Carbotte and the synchrotron group of Pascale Roy to use optical spectroscopy to study this material and its unique superconducting properties. Our first results were published in Nature Physics in September 2017. Metallic hydrogen under 3 million atmosphere pressure, discovered by Eremets in 2013 is another potential high temperature superconductor that we want to work on using the synchrotron. At this point in time we are the only group that has developed techniques to study superconductors at ultra high pressures. We plan to extend this capability to even higher pressures in the course of this grant to the point where we can establish superconductivity in metallic hydrogen.***Finally, a completely different project is the development of optical devices using patterns of holes in a metal sheet. They are widely used in millimeter wave astronomy and form an ideal project for summer students. One undergraduate per year will be trained in this program.

当某些金属在低温下失去电阻时，超导性就会发生。 超导体用于医院的MRI机器和需要高磁场的研究。超导材料需要昂贵的冷却，长期目标是找到一种在室温下超导的材料。 这一发现将彻底改变电力工业。室温超导体的超高磁场将降低核聚变反应堆的尺寸和成本，有望提供无限的无污染电力供应，我们将期待一个“电”这个词被超导体取代的未来。 最近的一个室温超导性的步骤是Mikahil Escherts发现了在金刚石尖端之间压缩到200万个大气压的压力的液体硫化氢的超导性，超导性开始于-68摄氏度的破纪录温度，但仍然低于室温。 我们与埃克塞特、理论家朱尔斯·卡博特和帕斯卡勒·罗伊的同步加速器小组合作，利用光谱学研究这种材料及其独特的超导特性。 我们的第一个结果于2017年9月发表在Nature Physics上。 2013年，Escherts在300万个大气压下发现了金属氢，这是我们希望使用同步加速器研究的另一种潜在的高温超导体。 在这个时间点上，我们是唯一一个已经开发出在超高压下研究超导体的技术的小组。 我们计划在此授权过程中将这种能力扩展到更高的压力，直到我们可以在金属氢中建立超导性。最后，一个完全不同的项目是使用金属板上的孔图案开发光学设备。它们广泛应用于毫米波天文学，是暑期学生的理想项目。 每年将有一名本科生在这个项目中接受培训。