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Physics & Astronomy

Department Features

Department Features

Current research and activities in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Defect-Free Superconductors

A long-standing mystery surrounding the electron-doped superconducting cuprates has been solved. Unlike their hole-doped cousins, these crystals do not superconduct when newly grown, but only after a high-temperature treatment in a reducing environment. Using a combination of x-ray diffuse scattering and neutron powder diffraction, Branton Campbell and collaborators have demonstrated that the copper-oxide sheets are initially riddled with copper-vacancy defects, but are effectively repaired by copper-ion migrations during the heat treatments. Nature Materials 6, 224-229 (2007).

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