Raman Topography Studies of Eutectic Systems of Strontium Ruthenate and Ruthenium Eric Hao Engineering, University of California, Berkeley NNIN REU Site: Penn State Nanofabrication Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA NNIN REU Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Ying Liu, Department of Physics, The Pennsylvania State University NNIN REU Mentor(s): Yiqun A. Ying, Neal Staley, Conor Puls; Physics, The Pennsylvania State University Contact:
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[email protected] Abstract: We report unexpected phenomena observed on the Sr2RuO4-Ru eutectic system featuring ruthenium (Ru) islands embedded in p-wave superconductor strontium ruthenate (Sr2RuO4) with a super- conducting transition temperature (Tc) nearly S twice that of pure Sr2RuO4. This enhancement of a ic p-wave superconductor is significant because of its similar structure (perovskite) compared to -wave HYS d P superconductors (high Tc superconductors). It occurs at the atomically sharp interface between URE the two materials, with the electronic states ct modified strongly. To examine this, we employed RU T Raman spectroscopy, a convenient method of measuring phonon stiffness. A laser was shone ANOS onto the sample, where excited electrons scatter N phonons—energy dependent on specific bonding & structure—and the emitted photon was recaptured S ic and analyzed. As we performed line scans across Figure 1: Eutectic system consisting of the interface, we noticed the phonons hardened HYS ruthenium (brightly lit areas) and Sr2RuO4. P near the interface, suggesting the Tc of the eutectic phase correlates with phonons. Types of Superconductors: The main theory for explaining superconductivity is the to a strontium ruthenate substrate, with excess ruthenium BCS Theory (named after Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer), forming islands about 1-2 µm in width and as long as 10 µm which, to put it simply, says that superconductivity relies on in length.