On Monday, June 17, 2024, at 12:00 c.t., the next date of our Physics Colloquium will take place.
Speaker is Prof. Dr. Mathias S. Scheurer (University of Stuttgart) on the topic "Conventional Superconductors with Unconventional Properties".
Superconductivity, which is characterized by dissipationless currents and the expulsion of magnetic fields, is a remarkable demonstration of the quantum nature of electronic transport in solids at low temperature. Although already discovered experimentally in 1911, it took until 1957 to develop a first microscopic theory of superconductivity, which is now known as the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. In this "conventional" description, the superconducting order parameter is a complex field, that does not change when applying point symmetry transformations to it. Later, it was realized that there are also superconductors where this is not the case and point symmetry do change the order parameter; these are now referred to as "unconventional superconductors". Using examples from our recent research, I will illustrate how superconductors that, in the canonical sense, would be referred to as conventional can show rather unusual properties. More specifically, we will discuss superconductors where the maximum current the superconductor can sustain is different in opposite directions, realizing a superconducting diode. We will also discuss superconductors where the elementary building blocks are more complex than in the BCS theory, and pairing in strongly interacting metals with bands that do not admit a local real-space description.
Abstract of the presentation by Dr. Scheurer.
The introduction will be given by Prof. Dr. Micheal Scherer.
The faculty cordially invites all interested parties. The event will take place in the lecture hall HNB. We offer coffee and cookies before the colloquium.
All dates of the Physics Colloquium can be found here.