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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Crossover-Induced Spin Fluctuation and Electron Pairing in Strongly Correlated Electrons

We investigate the two-dimensional (2D) Hubbard model and d-p model as a model for cuprate high-temperature superconductors, by employing an optimized variational Monte Carlo method. We improved the many-body wave function starting from the simple Gutzwiller function. On the basis of optimized variational wave functions, we show that there is a superconducting phase in the ground state of the 2D Hubbard model. The on-site repulsive Coulomb interaction U can bring about high-temperature superconductivity because its characteristic energy is of the order of eV. The attractive interaction between electrons is induced by the crossover from weakly to strongly correlated regions. High-temperature superconductivity is possible in the strongly correlated region, where U is greater than the bandwidth.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Decreased Energy Gap and Enhanced Conductivity in Zn-Doped Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4}

The 5d transition metal oxide Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4} has attracted much interest in the high-temperature superconductivity community since it highly resembles the cuprate superconductor in crystal and electronic structures. Here, we report on the transport and magnetic properties of Zn-doped Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4}. It is found that the energy gap of Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4} is rapidly decreased with a small amount of Zn doping. Consequently, the electrical conductivity is significantly enhanced. The present work could serve as the prerequisite stage in exploring the possible superconductivity of the Sr{sub 2}IrO{sub 4} compound.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Phase Diagrams of a 2D Dilute Antiferromagnetic Ising Model with Charged Impurities

In this work, we address a topical problem of a competition of charge and spin ordering for high-T cuprates. We have studied a simplified static 2D spin-pseudospin model on a square lattice, which takes into account both conventional antiferromagnetic spin exchange coupling and the on-site and intersite charge correlations in the CuO{sub 2} planes with the on-site Hilbert space reduced to only three effective valent states. We compared an analytical results for the ground state and for the temperature phase diagrams obtained in a mean field approximation and a large amount of the classical Monte Carlo calculations. Numerical results show that homogeneous ground state antiferromagnetic solutions found in a mean field approximation are unstable for the “strong” exchange limit with respect to phase separation with the charge and spin subsystems behaving like immiscible quantum liquids. We found an analytical expression for critical temperature of phase separation and performed the comparison with the Monte Carlo results.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

The Quest for High(er) T c in BaBiO 3 -Based Heterostructures

Almost all known superconductors with high T c have layered structure and are quasi two-dimensional (2D) electronically. Among those that are not, hole-doped BaBiO 3 has the highest T c (and also the highest among all oxides other than cuprates). Coincidentally, Bi is a valence-skipping element and a natural candidate for a negative-U center, with the potential of enhancing superconductivity, as often pointed out by Ted Geballe. With this motivation, we have been trying to synthesize quasi-2D embodiments of BaBiO 3 . The technique we use is atomic-layer-by-layer molecular beam epitaxy (ALL-MBE), which allows for ‘digital’ synthesis of atomically precise heterostructures and superlattices. We have succeeded in synthesizing some novel, artificial, metastable, layered compounds such as Ba 3 Bi 2 LaO 9 . So far, neither has shown superconductivity, but we will persist in trying.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

Nodeless pairing in superconducting copper-oxide monolayer films on Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ

We report that the pairing mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates remains the biggest unresolved mystery in condensed matter physics. To solve the problem, one of the most effective approaches is to investigate directly the superconducting CuO 2 layers. Here, by growing CuO 2 monolayer films on Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ substrates, we identify two distinct and spatially separated energy gaps centered at the Fermi energy, a smaller U-like gap and a larger V-like gap on the films, and study their interactions with alien atoms by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy. The newly discovered U-like gap exhibits strong phase coherence and is immune to scattering by K, Cs and Ag atoms, suggesting its nature as a nodeless superconducting gap in the CuO 2 layers, whereas the V-like gap agrees with the well-known pseudogap state in the underdoped regime. In conclusion, our results support an s-wave superconductivity in Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ , which, we propose, originates from the modulation-doping resultant two-dimensional hole liquid confined in the CuO 2 layers.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Superconducting epitaxial YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ on SrTiO 3 buffered Si (001)

Thin films of optimally-doped (001)-oriented YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ are epitaxially integrated on silicon (001) through growth on a single crystalline SrTiO 3 buffer. The former is grown using pulsed-laser deposition and the latter is grown on Si using oxide molecular beam epitaxy. The single crystal nature of the SrTiO 3 buffer enables high quality YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ films exhibiting high transition temperatures to be integrated on Si. For a 30 nm thick SrTiO 3 buffer, 50 nm thick YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ films that exhibit a transition temperature of ~ 93 K, and a narrow transition width (< 5 K) are achieved. Furthermore, the integration of single crystalline YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ on Si (001) paves the way for the potential exploration of cuprate materials in a variety of applications.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Detecting thermodynamic phase transition via explainable machine learning of photoemission spectroscopy

Identifying thermodynamic signatures of electronic phases, such as superconductivity, is challenging in low-dimensional materials due to strong fluctuations and low probing volume. Spectroscopic methods are often used to identify new bulk phases, but their main measurable quantity—electronic energy gaps—is no longer an effective order parameter in low-dimensional and fluctuating systems. Combining angle-resolved photoemission with a domain-adversarial neural network, we report a data-driven method to identify thermodynamic phase transitions solely based on single-particle spectra. We demonstrate 97.6% accuracy in cuprate superconductor Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ with strong superconducting fluctuations. This model notably compensates for the scarcity of experimental data by leveraging virtually inexhaustible simulated data. Further, its explainability reveals the crucial role of in-gap spectral weight in detecting phase fluctuations and thermodynamic transitions. Our work pinpoints the spectroscopic signatures of fluctuating orders and enables using spectroscopy for machine-learning-assisted material discovery for low-dimensional and strong coupling systems.

2D materials↗
DOE OSTI2015

Superconductivity in plutonium compounds

Although the family of plutonium-based superconductors is relatively small, consisting of four compounds all of which crystallize in the tetragonal HoCoGa 5 structure, these materials serve as an important bridge between the known Ce- and U-based heavy fermion superconductors and the high-temperature cuprate superconductors. Additionally, the partial localization of 5f electrons that characterizes the novel electronic properties of elemental plutonium appears to be central to the relatively high superconducting transition temperatures that are observed in PuCoGa 5 , PuRhGa 5 , PuCoIn 5 , and PuRhIn 5 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Unconventional superconductivity in heavy-fermion compounds

Over the past 35 years, research on unconventional superconductivity in heavy-fermion systems has evolved from the surprising observations of unprecedented superconducting properties in compounds that convention dictated should not superconduct at all to performing explorations of rich phase spaces in which the delicate interplay between competing ground states appears to support emergent superconducting states. In this article, we review the current understanding of superconductivity in heavy-fermion com- pounds and identify a set of characteristics that is common to their unconventional superconducting states. These core properties are compared with those of other classes of unconventional superconductors such as the cuprates and iron-based superconductors. Lastly, we conclude by speculating on the prospects for future research in this field and how new advances might contribute towards resolving the long-standing mystery of how unconventional superconductivity works.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Conventional magnetic superconductors

We discuss several classes of conventional magnetic superconductors including the ternary rhodium borides and molybdenum chalcogenides (or Chevrel phases), and the quaternary nickel-borocarbides. These materials exhibit some exotic phenomena related to the interplay between superconductivity and long-range magnetic order including: the coexistence of superconductivity and antiferromagnetic order; reentrant and double reentrant superconductivity, magnetic field induced superconductivity, and the formation of a sinusoidally-modulated magnetic state that coexists with superconductivity. We introduce the article with a discussion of the binary and pseudobinary superconducting materials containing magnetic impurities which at best exhibit short-range “glassy” magnetic order. Early experiments on these materials led to the idea of a magnetic exchange interaction between the localized spins of magnetic impurity ions and the spins of the conduction electrons which plays an important role in understanding conventional magnetic superconductors. Furthermore, these advances provide a natural foundation for investigating unconventional superconductivity in heavy-fermion compounds, cuprates, and other classes of materials in which superconductivity coexists with, or is in proximity to, a magnetically-ordered phase.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

High temperature interface superconductivity

High-T c superconductivity at interfaces has a history of more than a couple of decades. In this review we focus our attention on copper-oxide based heterostructures and multi-layers. We first discuss the technique, atomic layer-by-layer molecular beam epitaxy (ALL-MBE) engineering, that enabled High-T c Interface Superconductivity (HT-IS), and the challenges associated with the realization of high quality interfaces. Then we turn our attention to the experiments which shed light on the structure and properties of interfacial layers, allowing comparison to those of single-phase films and bulk crystals. Both ‘passive’ hetero-structures as well as surface-induced effects by external gating are discussed. Here, we conclude by comparing HT-IS in cuprates and in other classes of materials, especially Fe-based superconductors, and by examining the grand challenges currently laying ahead for the field.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Atomic-layer engineering of nickelates (in search of novel superconductors)

Karl Alex Mueller's intuition was that the nature of mobile charge carriers in manganates and nickelates should be like those in cuprates, which he believed were Jahn-Teller polarons, so he expected them to also host high-temperature superconductivity (HTS). Following his suggestions and persuasion, in the past, we performed several experiments that included atomic-layer-by-layer synthesis of novel, metastable manganates and nickelates. Despite our efforts and several USO sightings, here we failed to find any reproducible superconductivity and dropped the project fifteen years ago. Our results are presented here, for the first time - timely, since HTS was very recently discovered in nickelates (under pressure). So, whether his opinions were on the mark or not, Alex did guess it right - again.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Imaging Coherent Acoustic Phonons in LaFeAsO with Ultrafast Electron Microscopy

Several iron pnictide materials, such as LaFeAsO and BaFe 2 As 2 , display high-temperature superconductivity when lightly doped. Such compounds often undergo temperature-dependent structural, magnetic, and electronic transitions, which are generally thought to be linked in some way to the superconducting phase. In order to resolve the interdependencies of the various degrees of freedom, ultrafast spectroscopic methods have frequently been used to determine timescales associated with charge-carrier and switching dynamics in the superconducting materials, and the more-recent advent of ultrafast structural probes (femtosecond X-ray and electron scattering) has led to insights into both the cuprates and the pnictides (both the doped and parent compounds). As with dedicated reciprocal-space methods, ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (UEM) provides a method for directly probing impulsively-excited structural dynamics, with the added benefit of real-space imaging with combined nanometer and sub-picosecond spatiotemporal resolutions. In this work we report the direct imaging of coherent acoustic-phonon dynamics in the 1111-type iron-pnictide parent compound LaFeAsO via UEM.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Competing Charge/Spin-Stripe and Correlated Metal Phases in Trilayer Nickelates (Pr 1– x La x ) 4 Ni 3 O 8

We report low valent nickelates R n+1 Ni n O 2n+2 (R = rare earth) containing Ni 1+ (d 9 ) with a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) square-planar coordination geometry possess structural and electronic properties that are similar to those of high T c cuprates, including superconductivity itself in the doped infinite-layer (n = ∞) RNiO 2 system. Within this R n+1 Ni n O 2n+2 nickelate family, the crystallographic isomorphs Pr 4 Ni 3 O 8 and La 4 Ni 3 O 8 exhibit singularly different ground states: Pr 4 Ni 3 O 8 is metallic, and La 4 Ni 3 O 8 is a charge- and spin-stripe-ordered insulator. To explore and understand the ground state evolution from metallic Pr 4 Ni 3 O 8 to stripe-ordered La 4 Ni 3 O 8 in the R 4 Ni 3 O 8 family, we have grown a series of isovalent, substituted single crystals (Pr 1-x La x ) 4 Ni 3 O 8 . Combining thermodynamic, transport, magnetic, and synchrotron X-ray single crystal diffraction measurements, we reveal a T = 0 transition between metallic and stripe-insulator phase regions, with this putative quantum phase transition at x ≈ 0.45. We propose two possible models for (Pr 1-x La x ) 4 Ni 3 O 8 : an electronically inhomogeneous system that could serve as a candidate for exploring quantum Griffiths phase physics or a homogeneous system with a clean quantum critical point at the phase boundary

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Non-Centrosymmetric Sr 2 IrO 4 Obtained Under High Pressure

Sr 2 IrO 4 with strong spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and Hubbard repulsion (U) hosts Mott insulating states. The similar crystal structure, magnetic and electronic properties, particularly the d-wave gap observed in Sr 2 IrO 4 enhanced the analogies to cuprate high-$T_c$ superconductor, La 2 CuO 4 . The incomplete analogy was due to the lack of broken inversion symmetry phases observed in Sr 2 IrO 4 . Here, under high pressure and high temperature conditions, we report a non-centrosymmetric Sr 2 IrO 4 . The crystal structure and its noncentrosymmetric character were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (HR-STEM). The magnetic characterization confirms the Ir 4+ with $\textit{S}$ = 1/2 at low temperature in Sr 2 IrO 4 with magnetic ordering occurred at around 86 K, where a larger moment is observed than the ambient pressure Sr 2 IrO 4 . Moreover, the resistivity measurement shows three-dimensional Mott variable-range hopping existed in the system. Further, this non-centrosymmetric Sr 2 IrO 4 phase appears to be a unique material to offer further understanding of high-$T_c$ superconductivity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Pressure-induced Superconductivity and Flattened Se{sub 6} Rings in the Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Cu{sub 2}I{sub 2}Se{sub 6}.

The two major classes of unconventional superconductors, cuprates and Fe-based superconductors, have magnetic parent compounds, are layered, and generally feature square-lattice symmetry. We report the discovery of pressure-induced superconductivity in a nonmagnetic and wide band gap 1.95 eV semiconductor, Cu2I2Se6, with a unique anisotropic structure composed of two types of distinct molecules: Se-6 rings and Cu2I2 dimers, which are linked in a three-dimensional framework. Cu2I2Se6 exhibits a concurrent pressure-induced metallization and superconductivity at similar to 21.0 GPa with critical temperature (T-c) of similar to 2.8 K. The T-c monotonically increases within the range of our study reaching similar to 9.0 K around 41.0 GPa. These observations coincide with unprecedented chair-to-planar conformational changes of Se-6 rings, an abrupt decrease along the c-axis, and negative compression within the ab plane during the phase transition. DFT calculations demonstrate that the flattened Se-6 rings within the CuSe layer create a high density of states at the Fermi level. The unique structural features of Cu2I2Se6 imply that superconductivity may emerge in anisotropic Cu-containing materials without square-lattice geometry and magnetic order in the parent compound.

Cai, Weizhao↗
DOE OSTI2015

From quantum matter to high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides

The discovery of high temperature superconductivity in the cuprates in 1986 triggered a spectacular outpouring of innovative scientific inquiry. Much has been learned over the ensuing 28 years about the novel forms of quantum matter that are exhibited in this strongly correlated electron system. A qualitative understanding of the nature of the superconducting state itself has been achieved while profound unresolved issues have come into increasingly sharp focus concerning the astonishing complexity of the phase diagram, the unprecedented prominence of various forms of collective fluctuations, and the simplicity and insensitivity to material details of the “normal” state at elevated temperatures.

Keimer, B.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dependence of the critical temperature in overdoped copper oxides on superfluid density

The physics of underdoped copper-oxide superconductors, including the pseudogap, spin and charge ordering, and their relation to superconductivity 1-3 , is intensely debated. The overdoped side is perceived as simpler, with strongly-correlated fermion physics evolving smoothly into the conventional Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) behavior. Pioneering studies on a few overdoped samples 4-11 indicated that the superfluid density was much smaller than expected, but this was attributed to pair-breaking, disorder, and phase separation. Here, we test this conjecture by studying how the magnetic penetration depth λ and the phase stiffness ρs depend on temperature and doping, scanning densely the entire overdoped side of the La 2-x Sr x CuO 4 (LSCO) phase diagram. We have measured the absolute values of λ and ρs to the accuracy of ±1% in thousands of cuprate samples; the large statistics reveals clear trends and intrinsic properties. The films are quite homogeneous; variations in the critical temperature (T c ) within a film are very small (< 1 K). At every doping, ρs(T) decreases linearly with temperature. The T c (ρ s0) dependence is linear but with an offset, (T c - T 0 ) ∝ ρs0 where T0 ≈ 7 K, except very close to the origin where Tc ∝ √ρ s0. This scaling law defies the standard BCS description, posing a challenge to theory.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗