Research Projects

Unconventional high-temperature superconductivity (HTC) in cuprates remains a significant challenge in condensed matter physics. The complexity of materials and the phase diagram make it difficult to identify leading interactions, leading to disparate theoretical models. The mechanism of HTC may be shared among all material families, but its manifestations are rooted in the concrete underlying chemistry in an essentially material-dependent way. This project proposes investigating the electron-doped NCCO and its hole-doped analog La2-xSrxCuO4 LSCO, as well as extending the study to other oxide superconductors like doped-BaBiO3. High-quality single crystals of the compounds shortlisted for this investigation will be synthesized and grown by the Indian group at IISc, Bangalore, using the optical floating zone technique. Large as-grown crystals will be characterized and processed for detailed experimental investigations, including optical spectroscopy, transport, and X-ray diffraction studies under uniaxial pressure. The goal is to systematically tune structural parameters with the application of uniaxial pressure along a desired crystallographic direction and carefully follow how this affects the superconductivity.