James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials (2021): A sixteen-barrel atomic launcher — homing in on new materials and novel physics
Invited
Abstract
Three decades ago, Jim Eckstein started experimenting with atomic-layer-by-layer molecular-beam epitaxy (ALL-MBE) of cuprates. Darrell Schlom and I joined, and despite widespread skepticism, soon we were growing films showing high-temperature superconductivity (HTS), and a little later, new “artificial” (metastable) HTS materials such as Bi2Sr2Can-1CunO2n+2 with n = 4, 5,…,8,…, as well as atomically-precise heterostructures and superlattices.
In the years since, the technique has matured; we constructed 2nd and 3rd generation systems that integrate ALL-MBE with advanced surface-science tools such as LEEM, LEISS, ARPES, and STM. We learned how to utilize the epitaxial strain and epitaxial stabilization, delta-doping, interfacial charge transfer (aka “doping without disorder”), and proximity effects. We synthesized new metastable materials such as perovskite SrMnO3 (it’s stable structure is hexagonal), Ba3LaBi2O9, L2-xSrxNiO4, with 0 ≤ x ≤1.4, etc.
The study of these unique samples sparked the discovery of new phenomena — electron pairing well outside the superconducting region (of doping, temperature, and energy); interfacial superconductivity; giant proximity effect; electronic nematicity, etc. — painting a new picture of HTS in cuprates. [1]
[1] Nature 572, 493 (2019); 547, 432 (2017); 536, 309 (2016); 472, 458 (2011); 455, 782 (2008); 422, 873 (2003); 398, 221 (1999). Science 361, 479 (2018); 326, 699 (2009); 316, 425 (2007); 297, 581 (2002); 282, 2067 (1998). Nature Materials 12, 877 (2013); 12, 387 (2013); 12, 1019 (2013); 12, 47 (2013); 11, 850 (2012). Nature Physics 16, 712 (2020), 10, 256 (2014); 7, 298 (2011). Nature Nanotech. 14, 44 (2020); 9, 443 (2014); 5, 516 (2010). Nature Commun. 9, 5210 (2019), 2, 272 (2011). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 117, 10654 (2020), 113, 4284 (2016); 107, 8103 (2010).
In the years since, the technique has matured; we constructed 2nd and 3rd generation systems that integrate ALL-MBE with advanced surface-science tools such as LEEM, LEISS, ARPES, and STM. We learned how to utilize the epitaxial strain and epitaxial stabilization, delta-doping, interfacial charge transfer (aka “doping without disorder”), and proximity effects. We synthesized new metastable materials such as perovskite SrMnO3 (it’s stable structure is hexagonal), Ba3LaBi2O9, L2-xSrxNiO4, with 0 ≤ x ≤1.4, etc.
The study of these unique samples sparked the discovery of new phenomena — electron pairing well outside the superconducting region (of doping, temperature, and energy); interfacial superconductivity; giant proximity effect; electronic nematicity, etc. — painting a new picture of HTS in cuprates. [1]
[1] Nature 572, 493 (2019); 547, 432 (2017); 536, 309 (2016); 472, 458 (2011); 455, 782 (2008); 422, 873 (2003); 398, 221 (1999). Science 361, 479 (2018); 326, 699 (2009); 316, 425 (2007); 297, 581 (2002); 282, 2067 (1998). Nature Materials 12, 877 (2013); 12, 387 (2013); 12, 1019 (2013); 12, 47 (2013); 11, 850 (2012). Nature Physics 16, 712 (2020), 10, 256 (2014); 7, 298 (2011). Nature Nanotech. 14, 44 (2020); 9, 443 (2014); 5, 516 (2010). Nature Commun. 9, 5210 (2019), 2, 272 (2011). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 117, 10654 (2020), 113, 4284 (2016); 107, 8103 (2010).
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Presenters
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Ivan Bozovic
Department of Chemistry, Yale University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Yale University
Authors
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Ivan Bozovic
Department of Chemistry, Yale University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Yale University