Electrodynamics and phenomenology of unconventional superconductors and metals

多年来，社会一直受益于半导体电子革命，这场革命发生在20世纪初人们了解了非相互作用电子的量子行为之后。一场新的量子革命目前正在进行中，研究人员正在努力理解“量子材料”。在这些材料中，一个困难得多的量子问题必须解决强相互作用电子系统的行为。在这个阶段，许多挑战是根本性的：了解相互作用的电子系统中出现的重要电子性质；并利用这些材料，以便能够以受控的方式定制它们以产生所需的技术性质。 其中许多材料表现出不同寻常的超导电性，这种物质的状态是所有的电阻都消失了。例子包括铜酸盐高温超导体；所谓的重费米子材料，其中的电子似乎比正常情况下重100到1000倍；铁基超导体；以及有机物。目前，这些材料中的任何一种都不能很好地理解超导的机制。此外，它们的非超导状态是不寻常的金属，对我们理解固体中的电子构成了一些最大的挑战。 加拿大研究人员多年来一直站在量子材料研究的前沿。这项提议在几个关键方面加强了这一努力： 通过开发新的实验技术，为获得量子材料难以测量的性质而量身定做，例如时间反转对称破缺，以及单轴应变下的电学性质。 通过应用我们团队世界领先的工具来研究量子材料的高频(微波)特性，这是一种具有基础和技术重要性的东西。 通过将实验数据和现实的理论模拟结合起来，为量子材料中电子的潜在行为提供重要的新见解。 这项建议非常适合为各种高素质人员(HQP)提供高价值的培训机会，部分原因是它提供了进入研究计划的广泛切入点(实验设计、材料测量、数据分析、理论计算)，以适应来自不同背景的新学员。除了经常与国际顶尖研究人员合作进行最先进的研究外，受训人员还将获得非常有用和有市场价值的技能，例如与学术和行业职业相关的数据科学培训。

For many years society has been reaping the benefits of the revolution in semiconductor electronics that occurred after the quantum behaviour of noninteracting electrons was understood in the early 20th century. A new quantum revolution is currently underway, in which researchers are working hard to understand “quantum materials”. In these materials, a far more difficult quantum problem must be solved the behaviour of systems of strongly interacting electrons. At this stage many of the challenges are fundamental: to understand how important electronic properties emerge in systems of interacting electrons; and to harness these materials so that they can be tailored to produce desired technological properties, in a controlled way. Many of these materials display unusual forms of superconductivity, a state of matter in which all electrical resistance vanishes. Examples include the cuprate high temperature superconductors; the so-called "heavy fermion" materials, in which electrons appear to be 100 to 1000 times heavier than normal; iron-based superconductors; and organics. At present, the mechanism responsible for superconductivity is not well understood in any of these materials. In addition, their nonsuperconducting states are unusual metals that pose some of the greatest challenges to our understanding of electrons in solids. Canadian researchers have been at the forefront of the research into quantum materials for many years. This proposal strengthens that effort in several key ways: by developing new experimental techniques, tailor-made for accessing difficult-to-measure properties of quantum materials such as time-reversal symmetry breaking, and electrical properties under uniaxial strain. by applying our group's world-leading tools for studying the high frequency (microwave) properties of quantum materials, something of both fundamental and technological importance. by bringing together experimental data and realistic theoretical simulations to provide significant new insights into the underlying behaviour of electrons in quantum materials. This proposal is well suited to delivering high-value training opportunities to a diverse range of highly qualified personnel (HQP), in part because it provides a wide range to entry points into the research program (experiment design, materials measurement, data analysis, theoretical calculation), to suit incoming trainees from a diverse range of backgrounds. As well as carrying out state-of-the-art research often in collaboration with leading international researchers trainees will acquire highly useful and marketable skills, such as training in data science, that are relevant to both academic and industry careers.