290S/290K Quantum Materials Seminar: Grace Pan (Harvard); Wednesday, March 27 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time in 402 Physics South
Time/Venue: Wednesday, March 27 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time in 402 Physics South and via Zoom:
https://berkeley.zoom.us/j/99523499113pwd=REovb3pyam03WXQwbEhrU3dqNHZvdz09
Meeting ID: 995 2349 9113 Passcode: 600704
Host: Ehud Altman / James Analytis
Title: Atomic-scale design and construction of superconducting materials
Abstract: Contemporary challenges in computing and energy technologies motivate an understanding of how quantum, electronic, and magnetic phenomena in materials arise from interactions of electrons in crystal lattices. One such phenomenon, high-temperature superconductivity, harbors immense promise for energy storage, transport, and generation, yet has famously eluded a complete or predictive understanding. One approach to this problem is to use the essential features of existing high-temperature superconductors to blueprint the design of new materials that could host superconductivity. In this talk, I will discuss how we can exploit thin-film synthesis techniques to construct and understand superconducting materials. I will primarily focus on the nickel oxides (‘nickelates’), a recently identified class of superconductors inspired by the high-Tc cuprates. Using molecular beam epitaxy with electronic and structural characterization techniques, we design a new family of nickelate superconductors. By adjusting the number of layers in the nickelate unit cell, we reveal a complete superconducting dome and correlated phase diagram that emerges from atomic structuring of the crystalline lattice. I will also show how leveraging modern synthetic advances in other materials systems can facilitate the measurement and realization of new physical phenomena. Our work showcases the role of atomically-controlled materials synthesis in traversing quantum phases and channeling new physics.