Physics Club: Zhi-Xun Shen, Stanford Univ, “Cooperative Interactions as a Pathway to High Temperature Superconductivity”

Event time: 
Monday, October 30, 2017 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Location: 
Sloane Physics Laboratory (SPL), 57 See map
217 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Event description: 

High-temperature superconductivity in cupper and iron based materials, with critical temperature well above what was anticipated by the BCS, remains a major unsolved physics problem today. The challenge of this problem is symbolized by a complex phase diagram consists of intertwined states with extreme properties in addition to unconventional superconductivity. None of them can be described by conventional theory, thus compounding the difficulty to understand high-temperature superconductivity itself as these states are different manifestations of the same underlying physical system, making an integrated understanding a necessity.

We discuss experimental evidence for a general theme of high temperature superconductivity - cooperative enhancement and positive feedback loop of different interactions exemplified by electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions. The accumulated evidence comes from an expanded version of angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and its match to in-situ material synthesis. In such experiments, the precision measurements of electron’s energy, momentum and time dynamics provide evidence for cooperative interactions as a pathway to increase the superconducting transition temperature.

Tea after the talk at 4:30 in Sloane Physics Lab 3rd Floor Lounge

Host: Leonid Glazman