Fluctuations and Correlations in Superconductors

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

0094981 Tesanovic The investigator seeks to combine phenomenological and microscopic approaches to the problems of high temperature superconductors with the ambitious aim of constructing a theoretical framework capable of accounting for the known features of cuprate and other correlated superconductors, and of predicting new ones. The new approach would incorporate essential physics of strong correlations obtained from microscopic approaches that are absent from 'traditional' phenomenological approaches. The initial focus of the work will be on the role of vortices in thermal and quantum fluctuations, the interaction of quasiparticles with vortices and their effect on critical behavior, and the interplay of fluctuations and correlations in the 'pseudogap' regime of high temperature superconductors. %%% This proposal involves theoretical research and education in condensed matter theory with a focus on high temperature superconductors. A new attack will be mounted on the difficult problem of understanding the mechanism of superconductivity and elucidating the specific properties of high temperature superconductors that lead to the unusual and potentially technologically important phenomenon of 'high temperature superconductivity.' The theoretical arsenal will include a new synthesis that combines essential elements from microscopic theories and phenomenological approaches. ***