Objective
This project aims to advance our understanding of the electronic structure of high Tc cuprate superconductors. In particular,
we will use the unique combination of high pressure and high magnetic fields to study the evolution of two phases which
exist alongside the superconducting state, namely the so-called pseudogap state and a charge ordered state. Both of these
states have end points which approximately coincide with the point on the doping-temperature phase diagram where the
superconducting transition temperature is maximal and it has been suggested that fluctuations in the order parameter of one
or both of these phases could be responsible for the electron pairing that leads to high temperature superconductivity. Most
studies to date of these phase, and indeed the cuprates in general, have used chemical doping to tune the materials across
their phase diagram. Instead we plan to use pressure, which is a complementary tuning parameter which we expect to split
the accidental phase degeneracies which complicate the interpretation of the doping dependent studies. Our experimental
programme includes studies of Hall co-efficient, quantum oscillations and magnetic penetration depth to elucidate the
changes in electronic structure. We will also perform x-ray studies under uniaxial stress to correlate changes in electronic
structure to structural changes caused by the charge order.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinator
BS8 1QU Bristol
United Kingdom