Creating better superconductors by periodic nanopatterning

Allan, Milan; Fischer, Mark H; Ostojic, Oliver; Andringa, Arjo

doi:10.21468/SciPostPhys.3.2.010

SciPost Physics

Creating better superconductors by periodic nanopatterning

Milan P. Allan, Mark H. Fischer, Oliver Ostojic, Arjo Andringa

SciPost Phys. 3, 010 (2017) · published 10 August 2017

doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.3.2.010
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Abstract

The quest to create superconductors with higher transition temperatures is as old as superconductivity itself. One strategy, popular after the realization that (conventional) superconductivity is mediated by phonons, is to chemically combine different elements within the crystalline unit cell to maximize the electron-phonon coupling. This led to the discovery of NbTi and Nb3Sn, to name just the most technologically relevant examples. Here, we propose a radically different approach to transform a `pristine' material into a better (meta-) superconductor by making use of modern fabrication techniques: designing and engineering the electronic properties of thin films via periodic patterning on the nanoscale. We present a model calculation to explore the key effects of different supercells that could be fabricated using nanofabrication or deliberate lattice mismatch, and demonstrate that specific pattern will enhance the coupling and the transition temperature. We also discuss how numerical methods could predict the correct design parameters to improve superconductivity in materials including Al, NbTi, and MgB2

TY  - JOUR
PB  - SciPost Foundation
DO  - 10.21468/SciPostPhys.3.2.010
TI  - Creating better superconductors by periodic nanopatterning
PY  - 2017/08/10
UR  - https://scipost.org/SciPostPhys.3.2.010
JF  - SciPost Physics
JA  - SciPost Phys.
VL  - 3
IS  - 2
SP  - 010
A1  - Allan, Milan
AU  - Fischer, Mark H
AU  - Ostojic, Oliver
AU  - Andringa, Arjo
AB  - The quest to create superconductors with higher transition temperatures is as old as superconductivity itself. One strategy, popular after the realization that (conventional) superconductivity is mediated by phonons, is to chemically combine different elements within the crystalline unit cell to maximize the electron-phonon coupling. This led to the discovery of NbTi and Nb3Sn, to name just the most technologically relevant examples. Here, we propose a radically different approach to transform a `pristine' material into a better (meta-) superconductor by making use of modern fabrication techniques: designing and engineering the electronic properties of thin films via periodic patterning on the nanoscale. We present a model calculation to explore the key effects of different supercells that could be fabricated using nanofabrication or deliberate lattice mismatch, and demonstrate that specific pattern will enhance the coupling and the transition temperature. We also discuss how numerical methods could predict the correct design parameters to improve superconductivity in materials including Al, NbTi, and MgB2
ER  -

@Article{10.21468/SciPostPhys.3.2.010,
	title={{Creating better superconductors by periodic nanopatterning}},
	author={Milan P. Allan and Mark H. Fischer and Oliver Ostojic and Arjo Andringa},
	journal={SciPost Phys.},
	volume={3},
	pages={010},
	year={2017},
	publisher={SciPost},
	doi={10.21468/SciPostPhys.3.2.010},
	url={https://scipost.org/10.21468/SciPostPhys.3.2.010},
}

Cited by 6

Ontology / Topics

See full Ontology or Topics database.

Aluminium (Al) Electron-phonon coupling Magnesium diboride (MgB2) Nanofabrication Niobium-Tin (Nb3Sn) Niobium-Titanium (NbTi) Superconductivity/superconductors Thin films

Authors / Affiliations: mappings to Contributors and Organizations

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¹ Milan Allan,
² ³ Mark H Fischer,
¹ Oliver Ostojic,
¹ Arjo Andringa

Funder for the research work leading to this publication

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek / Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [NWO]