Research Highlights
Superconductivity
- New VULCAN tests of Japanese cable for US ITER's central magnet system
(2012)
Contact: Ke An - ARCS maps collaborative magnetic spin behavior in iron telluride
(2011)
Published Work: “Unconventional Temperature Enhanced Magnetism in Fe1:1Te”
Contact: Igor Zaliznyak - Doug Scalapino discusses "common thread" linking unconventional superconducting materials
(2011)
Contact: Douglas Scalapino - Materials Engineering Research at SNS Helps International Collaboration on Fusion Energy
Scientists and engineers at ORNL are working with the ITER Organization and the Japanese Atomic Energy Agency to resolve issues with a critical component of ITER’s experimental fusion reactor. ITER is the international research facility in southeastern France whose mission is to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion as a practical long-term energy source. (2011)
Contact: Xun-Li Wang - Neutron Scattering Shows Magnetic Excitation Mechanism at Work in New Superconducting Materials
Several key discoveries about the iron-based superconductors (Fe SCs) have emerged from research conducted at ORNL. Studies have revealed important details about the magnetic order of the parent compounds and its correlation with the emergence of superconductivity. (2011)
Published Work:
- "Lattice distortion and magnetic quantum phase transition in CeFeAs1−xPxO"
- "Evolution of spin excitations into the superconducting state in FeTe1−xSex"
- "Electron-doping evolution of the low-energy spin excitations in the iron arsenide superconductor BaFe2−xNixAs2"
- SNS Shows Novel Spin Waves in Iron Chalcogenide Fe1.05Te
Measurements conducted at SNS have determined exchange couplings in the magnetically ordered chalcogenide Fe1.05Te, a nonsuperconducting member of the iron-based family of superconductors. The results show the exchange pairings thought to be related to superconductivity occur in a next-nearest-neighbor ordering of atoms, rather than in nearest-neighbor order as in a previously studied iron arsenide. (2011)
Published Work: "Spin waves in the (π, 0) magnetically ordered iron chalcogenide Fe1.05Te"
Contact: Pengcheng Dai
- New Neutron Studies Support Magnetism’s Role
in Superconductors
Recent neutron scattering experiments give strong evidence that if superconductivity is related to a material’s magnetic properties, the same mechanisms are behind both copper-based, high-temperature superconductors and the newly discovered iron-based superconductors. The research was performed at SNS and HFIR and the ISIS Facility at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in England. (2010)
Published Work: "Evolution of spin excitations into the superconducting state in FeTe1-xSex"
Contact: Mark Lumsden
- Advances in Unconventional Iron-Based
Superconductors
The discovery of more diverse superconducting materials will lead to more efficient, less-expensive products in a variety of fields. This landmark research contributed to discovery of a material that is superconducting at a much lower temperature than traditional superconductors. (2008)
Published Work: "Unconventional superconductivity in Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2 from inelastic neutron scattering"
Contacts: Pencheng Dai, Mark Lumsden
