Enhanced Superconductivity in Aluminum-based Metamaterials

Recent experiments have shown the viability of the metamaterial approach to dielectric response engineering for enhancing the transition temperature, Tc, of a superconductor. We demonstrate the use of Al2O3-coated aluminium nanoparticles to form the recently proposed epsilon near zero (ENZ) core-shell metamaterial superconductor with a Tc that is three times that of pure aluminium [1]. We have also demonstrated that an Al/Al2O3 hyperbolic metamaterial geometry is capable of a similar Tc enhancement, while having superior transport and magnetic properties compared to the core-shell metamaterial superconductors [2]. These results open up numerous new possibilities of considerable Tc increase in other simple superconductors. [1]. V.N. Smolyaninova, K. Zander, T. Gresock, C. Jensen, J.C. Prestigiacomo, M.S. Osofsky, and I.I. Smolyaninov, Scientific Reports 5, 15777 (2015). [2]. V.N. Smolyaninova, C. Jensen, W. Zimmerman, J.C. Prestigiacomo, M.S. Osofsky, H. Kim, N. Bassim, Z. Xing, M.M. Qazilbash, and I.I. Smolyaninov, Scientific Reports (in press), (2016).