Application of metamaterial nano-engineering for increasing the superconducting critical temperature

ORAL

Abstract

In previous work, we demonstrated that the metamaterial approach to dielectric response engineering increases the critical temperature of a composite superconductor-dielectric system in the epsilon near zero (ENZ) and hyperbolic regimes. To create such metamaterial superconductors three approaches were implemented: 1) mixtures of tin and barium titanate nanoparticles of varying composition and tin and strontium titanate nanoparticles, 2) composite Al2O3-coated aluminium nanoparticles, and 3) thin Al/Al2O3heterostructures that form a hyperbolic metamaterial superconductor. IR reflectivity measurements confirmed the predicted metamaterial modification of the dielectric function thus demonstrating the efficacy of the metamaterial approach to Tc engineering. In this talk, we present specific heat data on samples of the composite Al2O3-coated aluminium nanoparticles showing that the normal state density of states (DOS) is similar to that of pure aluminum, thus precluding the DOS from being responsible for the observed enahanced Tc. We will also discuss other features in the specific heat results that are consistent with results of neutron scattering experiments.

*This work was supported in part by DARPAW911NF1710348and ONR N00014-18-1-2681 grants.

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Presenters

  • Michael Osofsky

    • United States Naval Research Laboratory
    • NRL

Authors

  • Michael Osofsky

    • United States Naval Research Laboratory
    • NRL

  • Vera Smolyaninova

    • Physics, Towson University
    • Towson University
    • Department of Physics Astronomy and Geosciences, Towson University

  • Joseph Prestigiacomo

    • United States Naval Research Laboratory

  • Peter Rosen

    • Chemistry and Biochemistry Dept., Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University

  • Matthew Dickson

    • Chemistry and Biochemistry Dept., Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University

  • Brian Woodfield

    • Chemistry and Biochemistry Dept., Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University

  • Jeffrey W Lynn

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • NIST
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • NIST Center for neutron research, National Institute of Standard and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD

  • Nicholas Butch

    • NIST Center for Neutron Research
    • Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • NIST
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • National Institute of Standards and Technology
    • University of Maryland, College Park & NIST

  • Heather Chen-Mayer

    • NIST
    • NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Igor Smolyaninov

    • Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland