Arkady Shekhter setting up the resonant ultrasound measurement in a flow cryostat.
Tiny crystals, probed with a device called a resonant ultrasound spectrometer, are helping solve the long-time mystery of "pseudogap behavior" in copper oxide superconductors. News flash: The pseudogap is indeed a phase of matter. Albert Migliori, LANL Fellow and Seaborg Institute director noted that, "the key effects were so small that extreme attention to eliminating spurious signals combined with our low noise measurement revealed effects that were previously hidden." - Researchers probe 'pseudogap' phase boundary, solve decades-old mystery. LOS ALAMOS, N.M. June 6, 2013—Tiny crystals, probed with a device called a resonant ultrasound spectrometer, are helping solve the long-time mystery of "pseudogap behavior” in copper oxide superconductors. Described by an international team including Los Alamos scientists in this week's Nature magazine, the research explored a compelling question in superconductivity, that of the strange metallic behavior of copper oxide (cuprate) materials in the pseudogap, at temperatures well above the onset of superconductivity (95 degrees Kelvin). Thousands of research papers have been written on the topic of the pseudogap in the 27 years since high-temperature superconductivity was discovered, and still there has been no consensus on exactly what was happening to cuprate materials in this temperature range. Although there was evidence for a partial gapping of the electronic density of states, no evidence had previously existed as to whether the pseudogap is a distinct phase, or a continuous evolution of physical properties as superconductivity is approached.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
