Professor of Physics Bozidar Mitrovic.The Canadian Journal of Physics has awarded a Brock University research team the journal’s Best Paper Award for 2015.
The effect of quasiparticle-self-energy on Cd2Re2O7 superconductor, published on Sept. 9, 2015, examines a technique called “point-contact spectroscopy,” which measures energy spectrum in superconductors.
Superconductors are materials that transmit an electric current without losing any energy. They are used in MRI machines, particle accelerators and other equipment.
The research team, which included Professor of Physics Bozidar Mitrovic, conducted a series of experiments involving point-contact spectroscopy, which culminated in a new understanding of how to measure energy in superconductors.
“There was no proper theory that would actually enable one to find out correctly the energy spectrum from these experiments,” says Mitrovic. “People were using essentially a phenomenological approach.
“We are very proud of the paper because everything – the theory and the experimental technique – were going against the grain,” he says. “It’s always hard for people to accept something new, but eventually it was published and recognized.”
“This paper is on Cd2Re2O7, an interesting material that represents one of the only known examples of a superconducting pyrochlore oxide,” says Michael Steinitz, editor of the Canadian Journal of Physics.
“The paper presents data obtained using a combination of experimental techniques (point-contact spectroscopy, ac susceptibility, and heat capacity), which is complimented by strong supporting theory. It is thus a major contribution to our exploration of this phenomenon,” says Steinitz.
Mitrovic says other researchers will be able to use the team’s “unconventional” approach to better interpret their experiments.
The other team members are Professor of Physics Fereidoon Razavi; graduate students Yousef Rohanizadegan and Mojtaba Hajialamdari, Professor of Physics Maureen Reedyk, and Reinhard Kremer with the Max-Planck Institute in Germany and also an adjunct professor at Brock.
