SIMTECH · New Century of Superconductivity: Ideas, Materials, Technologies

New Century of Superconductivity: Ideas, Materials, Technologies

Superconductivity was discovered more than one hundred years ago (1911). During these years a lot of ideas, methods, materials and possible mechanisms had been proposed, invented, studied. Some of them became of everyday use and were included in handbooks, others proved to be wrong, third were forgotten. Recent discoveries of the materials with unusual physical properties (like graphene), the achievements in technology allowing to design the new superconducting structures and to grow them layer by layer on the atomic scale, the possibility to check theoretical predictions at artificially tailored compounds and nano-scale composite superconducting, motivated us to join our efforts in this project. Project SIMTECH (New Century of Superconductivity: Ideas, Materials, Technologies) was developed in frame of Marie Curie Mobility program FP7-IRSES. Advances in superconductivity is this common feature that unify the leading experts of this field in SIMTECH which had the final objective to realize the new superconductive nano-systems with high critical parameters, study the type of superconductivity in these systems and develop a new diagnostic spectroscopic methods for investigation of the (pseudo) gap state properties there. The project consortium included European and Partner institutions from four countries: Italy, France, Russia, Ukraine and had the objective to consider the possibility and realization of superconductivity in: --granular and multilayer superconductors of specially designed nano-geometry; --composite nano-superconductors; --new carbon-based materials with relativistic electron system (graphene); -- systems beyond equilibrium. Numerous secondment visits (almost 400 person/months in total) between project partners, executed in 2011-14 permitted to achieve the principal objectives programmed. More than one hundred articles in the frameworks of the Project were published in high-impact international journals. Disseminated results were delivered at many prestigious international conferences as plenary, invited and oral talks. Participants organized 10 Workshops(Rome, 2011 and Bordeaux, 2011; Bagno Vignoni (Italy): December, 2012, December, 2013; Marino (Italy): March, 2013, March, 2014; Bordeaux (France): May, 2013, April, 2014), Kiev (Ukraine): December, 2013, Rome (Italy): May 2014, Kiev (Ukraine): June 14-20, 2015. To be hold on..), delivered courses of lectures in Russia and in Ukraine in which the senior and young scientists from participating partner countries were trained. Moreover, we disseminated the phenomenon of superconductivity, its history and applications, ideas of international scientific collaboration in a series of TV and radio-programs in Russia. We have developed: • The theory of artificial networks of superconducting nano-grains; • The theory of hybrid superconducting-ferromagnet systems; studied specifics of the vortex matter in them; • The new mechanism of the phase slip events in nano-size superconducting channels • The general theory of quantum and thermal fluctuations (fluctuoscopy) in superconductors; its application for characterization of the novel (HTS, disordered, two-bands) superconductors; • The new, thermodynamic, approach to description of the thermal, thermo-electric, and thermo-magnetic transport in condensed matter. It was applied to description of the properties of novel Dirac materials and superconducting systems; We performed the extensive investigation of the band structure, anomalous electro-physical, magneto-optical, thermo-electric, thermo-magnetic, and thermo-spin properties of the plain graphene, gapped graphene and its multi-layers, buckled Dirac materials. The detailed list of obtained results is given below. In more general words we can say that our project contributed in fundamental research of 1. Artificially tailored nano-superconducting and hybride superconducting-ferromagnet multilayered systems with programmed properties 2. Theory of heat transport, thermo-electric, thermo-magnetic and thermo-spin phenomena. We learned how to remove the contradictions with the Onsager principle and third low of thermodynamics in calculus of the off-diagonal transport coefficient. These new ideas were successfully applied to novel materials. 3. the band structure, anomalous electro-physical, magneto-optical, thermo-electric, thermo-magnetic, and thermo-spin properties of the plain graphene, gapped graphene and its multi-layers, buckled Dirac matherials. 4. We elaborated the unique approach to description of quantum and thermal fluctuations in superconductors. It was developed at examples of conductivity, I-V characteristics, Nernst effect in optimally and underdoped superconductors, nuclear magnetic relaxation rate. This new approach, which we called fluctuoscopy, allows to characterize microscopically the properties of new superconductors, which are hardly available in other manner. Putting together the competences of all five teams, the advantages of scientific schools and cultures of the East and West of Europe during the four years of the project activity we have not only produced more than 150 papers, most of them in the first class professional magazines, organized 10 of the workshops, disseminated our scientific results in media, tens of popular lectures, popular books, but we have established the strong long term professional and human relations between the participants. We grew the post-graduate students having the multi-cultural experience, we demonstrated to the wide audience the achievements and beauty of the modern science and importance of its international nature.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union