Physicists Uncover
New Competing
State ofMatter
Ames
Laboratory – January 2, 2019 -- A team of experimentalists at the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and theoreticians at University of Alabama
Birmingham
State of
“Superconductivity
is a strange state of matter, in which the pairing of electrons makes them move
faster,” said Jigang Wang, Ames Laboratory physicist and Iowa State University
To get a
closer look, Wang and his team used laser pulses of less than a trillionth of a
second in much the same way as flash photography, in order to take a series of
snapshots. Called terahertz spectroscopy, this technique can be thought of as
“laser strobe photography” where many quick images reveal the subtle movement
of electron pairings inside the materials using long wavelength far-infrared
light.
“The
ability to see these real time dynamics and fluctuations is a way to
understanding them better, so that we can create better superconducting
electronics and energy-efficient devices,” said Wang.
The
research is further discussed in a paper, “Non-equilibrium Pair Breaking in
Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2 Superconductors:
Evidence for Formation of Photo-Induced Excitonic State,” authored by X. Yang,
L. Luo, M. Mootz, A. Patz, S. L. Bud’ko, P. C. Canfield, I. E. Perakis, and J.
Wang; and published in Physical Review Letters.
Ames
Laboratory scientist and ISU professor Paul Canfield, expert in the design and
characterization of iron pnictides, created the single crystal sample used in
this investigation. Martin Mootz and Ilias E. Perakis, at University of Alabama
Birmingham
Spectroscopy
work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office. Sample growth and
characterization was supported the U.S. Department of Department of Energy’s
(DOE) Office of Science. Theory work at the University
of Alabama , Birmingham
No comments:
Post a Comment