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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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Structural and magnetic phase transitions near optimal superconductivity in BaFe 2 (As 1-x P x ) 2

In this study, we use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), high-resolution x-ray and neutron scattering to study structural and magnetic phase transitions in phosphorus-doped BaFe 2 (As 1-x P x ) 2 . Thus, previous transport, NMR, specific heat, and magnetic penetration depth measurements have provided compelling evidence for the presence of a quantum critical point (QCP) near optimal superconductivity at x = 0.3. However, we show that the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic structural (T s ) and paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic (AF, T N ) transitions in BaFe 2 (As 1-x P x ) 2 are always coupled and approach to T N ≈ T s ≥ T c (≈ 29 K) for x = 0.29 before vanishing abruptly for x ≥ 0.3. These results suggest that AF order in BaFe 2 (As 1-x P x ) 2 disappears in a weakly first order fashion near optimal superconductivity, much like the electron-doped iron pnictides with an avoided QCP.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Heat Treatment Studies of Nb3Sn Wires for Superconducting Planar Undulators

A project aiming to fabricate a full-length 2.8-m long Nb 3Sn superconducting undulator for the storage ring was started last year at the ANL APS. These Nb 3 Sn undulators operate at a maximum magnetic field on the conductor of about 5 T. To address instabilities at this field, two Nb 3 Sn wires with small subelement size were used. Specifically, Restacked Rod Processed wires of 0.6mmin diameter and with 144 and 150 superconducting subelements respectively, over 169 total. The equivalent subelement diameter, DS, of thesewires is35 mu m. At these smallDS values, the critical current density is known to deteriorate, and the Residual Resistivity Ratio is very sensitive to heat treatment. A delicate balance has therefore to be found to obtain parameters within operation specifications. In this paper we showperformance results from different heat treatments.

critical current density↗
DOE OSTI2020

Conceptual Design and Performance Considerations for Superconducting Magnets in the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment

An important step toward the advent of nuclear fusion as a future power source is the development of plasmafacing materials that can function as designed for a long period of time. While ITER and other devices including Wendelstein 7-X and the Joint European Torus will provide insight into divertor and first wall performance, a dedicated device to advance the understanding of material performance in the representative plasma environments is needed. The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment has been proposed as a linear plasma device to generate and to direct fusion reactor-like plasma energy and particle flux at the target materials with electron temperatures of 1-15 eV and electron densities of 10 20 -10 21 m -3 . Given that the requirements for radio frequency (RF) heating on-axis field are no greater than 2.5 T and the warm bore diameters must be between 60 cm and 1.5 m, the conceptual design was developed for the experiments on a set of superconducting magnets carried out using commercially available NbTi superconductors. This conceptual design evaluated the cryogenic heat loads, mechanical loads, and quench protection to ensure that the current design is compatible with current technologies. In addition, an alternative evaluation of this design relative to ReBCO high-temperature superconducting magnets determined the conditions under which these technologies could be advantageous.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Overlap junctions for superconducting quantum electronics and amplifiers

Due to their unique properties as lossless, nonlinear circuit elements, Josephson junctions lie at the heart of superconducting quantum information processing. Previously, we demonstrated a two-layer, submicrometer-scale overlap junction fabrication process suitable for qubits with long coherence times. Here, we extend the overlap junction fabrication process to micrometer-scale junctions. This allows us to fabricate other superconducting quantum devices. For example, we demonstrate an overlap junction-based Josephson parametric amplifier that uses only two layers. This efficient fabrication process yields frequency-tunable devices with negligible insertion loss, a gain of ∼30 dB, and quantum limited noise performance. Compared to other processes, the overlap junction allows for fabrication with minimal infrastructure, high yield, and state-of-the-art device performance.

Bal, Mustafa (ORCID:0000000307516774)↗
DOE OSTI2018

Visualization and Quantum Computation of Moire Superconductivity in Bilayer Graphene, Carbon Nanocones and Nanostrips

The purpose of this project is to visualize and study the electronic properties of carbon nanostructures. The principal structures studied are AA and AB (Bernal) stacked graphene bilayers, an 80C nanocone with pentagonal defects at its apex, and a 16C nanoring. Graphene and other based nanostructures have attracted much attention due to their unique electronic properties. For example, bilayer graphene shows superconductivity at certain magic angles of rotation. Open source molecular modeling and visualization programs like SAMSON, Avogadro, and VMD are utilized to generate the structures above. Using bond information in order to find nearest neighbors, an adjacency matrix can be generated from which the energy eigenvalues are solvable and are used to visualize the dispersion relation, free energy, persistent current, Green’s function, and entanglement entropy. The goal of this project is to study the effect of rotation on the electronic properties of bilayer graphene, particularly as it pertains to the magic angle where superconductivity occurs, as well as the electronic properties of the bilayer Moire patterns which emerge due to the superposition of the identical lattices at different angles. An important goal is to incorporate phonon interactions into the tight-binding model for carbon structures, and to utilize quantum based computing as a tool to find the ground state properties of these structures, particularly in the terminating case where boundary conditions have an effect.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Gate-induced superconductivity in a monolayer topological insulator

The layered semimetal tungsten ditelluride (WTe 2 ) has recently been found to be a two-dimensional topological insulator (2D TI) when thinned down to a single monolayer, with conducting helical edge channels. We found that intrinsic superconductivity can be induced in this monolayer 2D TI by mild electrostatic doping at temperatures below 1 kelvin. The 2D TI–superconductor transition can be driven by applying a small gate voltage. This discovery offers possibilities for gate-controlled devices combining superconductivity and nontrivial topological properties, and could provide a basis for quantum information schemes based on topological protection.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2018

Effect of Blocking and Superconducting Layer Doping on the Superconductivity and Magnetic Properties of Polycrystalline Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 6}

The possible difference in the properties upon doping the Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 6} superconducting or blocking layers with Fe and Eu respectively was investigated in this work. The homogeneous Sr{sub 2−y}Eu{sub y}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 6+δ} and Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2−x}Fe{sub x}O{sub 6+δ} (y = 0, 0.1, 0.5, x = 0, 0.05) compounds were produced by a high-pressure synthesis route. Judging by the magnetic susceptibility measurements, all samples exhibit a superconductivity transition and the Eu/Fe concentration dependencies on the diamagnetic moment and average T{sub c} have been constructed using the experimental data. As a result, an unusual behavior of the T{sub c} value was observed for the samples with doped Eu: a fivefold reduction in the europium concentration in the sample does not give a noticeable effect on the transition temperature value while the diamagnetic signal becomes more stronger. Complex superconducting dome was found for Eu-doped material: 0.1 ≤ y ≤ 0.5 region T{sub c} vs. concentration data were approximated by inverted parabola-like curve with a maximum at y = 0.3. Difference in properties of the Eu and Fe-doped samples was also found in the behavior of the hysteresis loops showed the opposite orientations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2019

Modulation of Superconducting Transition Temperature in LaAlO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} by SrTiO{sub 3} Structural Domains

The tetragonal domain structure in SrTiO{sub 3} (STO) is known to modulate the normal-state carrier density in LaAlO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} (LAO/STO) heterostructures, among other electronic properties, but the effect of STO domains on the superconductivity in LAO/STO has not been fully explored. Using a scanning SQUID susceptometer microscope to map the superconducting response as a function of temperature in LAO/STO, we find that the superconducting transition temperature is spatially inhomogeneous and modulated in a pattern that is characteristic of structural domains in the STO.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2018

Chemical stability and superconductivity in Ag-sheathed CaKFe 4 As 4 superconducting tapes

Ag-sheathed CaKFe 4 As 4 superconducting tapes have been fabricated via the ex situ powder-in-tube method. X-ray diffraction analyses suggest that the CaKFe 4 As 4 phase reacts strongly with the silver sheath at temperature above 500 °C. We therefore anneal the tape at 500 °C and obtain a transport critical current density J c (4.2 K, 0 T) ~ 2.7 × 10 4 A cm –2 . The pinning potential derived from magnetoresistance measurements is one order of magnitude lower than that of the (Ba/Sr) 1–x K x Fe 2 As 2 tapes. Combining with the scanning electron microscopy and magneto-optical imaging results, we suggest that bad connectivity between superconducting grains caused by the low sintering temperature is the main factor responsible for the low J c . Furthermore, this system is still a promising candidate for superconducting wires and tapes if we find a compatible sheath material and further optimize the post-annealing process to achieve better grain connectivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Coupling of structure to magnetic and superconducting orders in quasi-one-dimensional K 2 Cr 3 As 3

Here, quasi-one-dimensional A 2 Cr 3 As 3 (with A = K, Cs, Rb) is an intriguing new family of superconductors which exhibit many similar features to the cuprate and iron-based unconventional superconductor families. Yet, in contrast to these systems, no charge or magnetic ordering has been observed which could provide the electronic correlations presumed necessary for an unconventional superconducting pairing mechanism—an absence which defies predictions of first-principles models. We report the results of neutron scattering experiments on polycrystalline K 2 Cr 3 As 3 (T c ~ 7) which probed the low-temperature dynamics near T c . Neutron diffraction data evidence a subtle response of the nuclear lattice to the onset of superconductivity while inelastic scattering reveals a highly dispersive column of intensity at the commensurate wave vector q = (001/2) which loses intensity beneath T c -indicative of short-range magnetic fluctuations. Using linear spin-wave theory, we model the observed scattering and suggest a possible structure to the short-range magnetic order. These observations suggest that K 2 Cr 3 As 3 is in close proximity to a magnetic instability and that the incipient magnetic order both couples strongly to the lattice and competes with superconductivity, in direct analogy with the iron-based superconductors.

1-dimensional systems↗
DOE OSTI2016

Superconducting Bi 2 Te: Pressure-induced universality in the (Bi 2 ) m (Bi 2 Te 3 ) n series

Using high-pressure magnetotransport techniques we have discovered superconductivity in Bi 2 Te, a member of the infinitely adaptive (Bi 2 )m(Bi 2 Te 3 )n series, whose end members, Bi and Bi 2 Te 3 , can be tuned to display topological surface states or superconductivity. Bi 2 Te has a maximum T c = 8.6 K at P = 14.5 GPa and goes through multiple high pressure phase transitions, ultimately collapsing into a bcc structure that suggests a universal behavior across the series. High-pressure magnetoresistance and Hall measurements suggest a semi-metal to metal transition near 5.4 GPa, which accompanies the hexagonal to intermediate phase transition seen via x-ray diffraction measurements. In addition, the linearity of H c2 (T) exceeds the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg limit, even in the extreme spin-orbit scattering limit, yet is consistent with other strong spin-orbit materials. Furthermore, considering these results in combination with similar reports on strong spin-orbit scattering materials seen in the literature, we suggest the need for a new theory that can address the unconventional nature of their superconducting states.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗