Project description
Spin-polarised scanning tunnelling microscopy decipher unconventional superconductors’ behaviour
Advancing knowledge on the interplay of electronic order, antiferromagnetism and superconductivity is crucial for understanding unconventional superconductors. However, electronic order is often difficult to detect using diffraction techniques, requiring a local probe sensitive to all three phenomena. Spin-polarised scanning tunnelling microscopy (SP-STM) meets this need by utilising spin-polarised tunnelling currents to measure electronic order, superconducting gaps and magnetic structure at the atomic scale. In a first, the ERC-funded MARS project will combine SP-STM with expertise in scanning tunnelling microscopy on unconventional superconductors. Researchers will apply high-resolution SP-STM to key classes of unconventional superconductors: cuprate, iron-arsenide and heavy-fermion. A unique milli-Kelvin scanning tunnelling microscope will be built to achieve unprecedented resolution in spin polarisation, energy and real space.
Objective
The interplay of electronic order with antiferromagnetism and superconductivity has recently emerged as a vital question for rationalizing the physics of all classes of unconventional superconductors. The electronic order is rarely sufficiently long-range correlated to render it susceptible for diffraction techniques. Instead, a local probe is usually required to detect it experimentally. It is clear, however, that such a probe must provide sensitivity at the same time to electronic order, superconductivity, and static magnetism for clarifying the interplay between these ordering phenomena. The only experimental technique which is capable of fulfilling these requirements simultaneously is spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy (SP-STM). This technique utilizes spin-polarized tunneling currents in order to measure signatures of electronic order, superconducting gaps, and the magnetic structure at the atomic scale. To the best of our knowledge, SP-STM has never been applied to unconventional superconductors, despite the mandatory necessity.
Exactly this is the goal of the MARS project: We want to combine SP-STM, which we recently established in our microscopes, with our experience in scanning tunneling microscopy on unconventional superconductors. We will apply highest-resolution SP-STM systematically to prototype representatives of the most important classes of unconventional superconductors, viz. cuprate, iron-arsenide, and heavy-fermion superconductors. For this purpose, a unique milli-Kelvin scanning tunneling microscope will be built, in order to achieve unprecedented resolution in spin-polarization, energy, and real-space.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy scanning tunneling microscopy
- natural sciences physical sciences electromagnetism and electronics superconductivity
- natural sciences physical sciences optics spectroscopy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2014-CoG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
01069 DRESDEN
Germany
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