Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Thermodynamics of the Magnetic-Field- Induced "Normal" State in an Underdoped High T[subscript c] Superconductor Scott Chandler Riggs Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact
[email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THERMODYNAMICS OF THE MAGNETIC-FIELD-INDUCED “NORMAL” STATE IN AN UNDERDOPED HIGH TC SUPERCONDUCTOR By SCOTT CHANDLER RIGGS A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2010 The members of the committee approve the dissertation of Scott Chandler Riggs defended on March 27, 2010. Gregory Scott Boebinger Professor Directing Thesis David C. Larbalestier University Representative Jorge Piekarewicz Committee Member Nicholas Bonesteel Committee Member Luis Balicas Committee Member Approved: Mark Riley, Chair, Department of Physics Joseph Travis, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I never thought this would be the most difficult section to write. From Tally, I’d have to start off by thanking Tim Murphy for letting me steal...er...borrow way too much from the instrumentation shop during the initial set-up of Greg’s lab. I still remember that night on the hybrid working with system ”D”. After that night it became clear that ”D” stands for Dumb. To Eric Palm, thank you for granting more power during our specific heat experiments. We still hold the record for most power consumed in a week! To Rob Smith, we should make a Portland experience every March.