Contact: Prof. László Forró, (Project leader - Project 3) Dr. Maria Seo

Team spring 2001

A cuprate superconductor single crystal mounted on a diamond anvil with sputtered gold electrodes for high pressure transport measurements

Electronic Transport in Novel Materials
The Research Group on Nanostructures and Materials with Novel Electronic Properties of László Forró, conducts experiments in condensed matter physics in the Institute of Physics of Complex Matter of the Faculty of Basics Sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne . The major classes of materials investigated are (i) Novel electronic materials (cuprates, manganates, vanadates), (ii) Molecular materials (fullerenes, carbon and non-carbon nanotubes) and (iii) Biological nanostructures (microtubules, DNA).

We are interested in the electronic, magnetic, structural and mechanical properties of these systems. The primary goal is to explore and understand the rich underlying physics. A variety of experimental techniques are used to characterize these materials. The characterization includes both well-established methods such as general transport (electrical conductivity, thermopower, magnetotransport, Hall effect), high pressure transport, optical spectroscopy, tunneling spectroscopy, AFM, TEM/SEM, and novel techniques developed in the laboratory, like electron spin resonance (ESR) at high pressures and in stopped-flow configuration.

In the MaNEP project “Electronic transport in novel materials” the major themes are: interlayer transport in layered materials like cuprate superconductors or bilayered manganates, Mott-transition and non-Fermi liquid behavior in BaVS3, and the role of correlations in carbon nanotubes.

References:
[1] L. Forró et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000), 1938.