Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have uncovered the atomic-scale mechanics that enhance superconductivity in an iron-based material, a finding published recently in Nature.

Using advanced spectroscopy instruments housed in the UC Irvine Materials Research Institute, the researchers were able to image atom vibrations and thereby observe new phonons—quasiparticles that carry thermal energy—at the interface of an iron selenide (FeSe) ultrathin film layered on a strontium titanate (STO) substrate.

“Primarily emerging from the out-of-plane vibrations of oxygen atoms at the interface and in apical oxygens in STO, these phonons couple with electrons due to the spatial overlap of electron and phonon wave functions at the interface,” said lead author Xiaoqing Pan, UC Irvine Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering, Henry Samueli Endowed Chair in Engineering and IMRI director.