Ambizione grant awarded to Elsa Abreu
Dr. Elsa Abreu won with her research idea on "Exploring superconductivity pathways in low dimensional spin-ladder and spin-chain compounds" the prestigous Ambizione grant. The grant allows her to advance her career by initiating and leading a new research project. The project starts in January 2019 and she is currently looking for a PhD candidate. Congratulations!
The goal of this project is to identify, characterize and exploit the control knob that enables unlocking and tuning of the superconducting state in spin ladder compounds.
More specifically, Elsa Abreu will investigate Sr14-xCaxCu24O41 spin ladder materials, which become superconducting at low temperatures under an applied external pressure. Superconductivity emerges from a spin gap state that exists in the ladders up to above room temperature, creating the potential for high temperature superconductivity.
The proposed approach is to coherently drive the system using low frequency excitations so as to promote the superconducting state to the detriment of other competing phases. Elsa Abreu will study the low frequency conductivity response to the application of a strong static electric field and to excitation by a strong THz transient, as a function of Ca doping in Sr14-xCaxCu24O41. She will also explore the possibility to couple high pressure capabilities into this low temperature THz measurement. Such a technique would be of interest for the study of many complex materials.
The goal of this project is to identify, characterize and exploit the control knob that enables unlocking and tuning of the superconducting state in spin ladder compounds.
More specifically, Elsa Abreu will investigate Sr14-xCaxCu24O41 spin ladder materials, which become superconducting at low temperatures under an applied external pressure. Superconductivity emerges from a spin gap state that exists in the ladders up to above room temperature, creating the potential for high temperature superconductivity.
The proposed approach is to coherently drive the system using low frequency excitations so as to promote the superconducting state to the detriment of other competing phases. Elsa Abreu will study the low frequency conductivity response to the application of a strong static electric field and to excitation by a strong THz transient, as a function of Ca doping in Sr14-xCaxCu24O41. She will also explore the possibility to couple high pressure capabilities into this low temperature THz measurement. Such a technique would be of interest for the study of many complex materials.