Superconducting Quantum Metamaterials from Convergence of Soft and Hard Condensed Matter Science.

Beaucage, Peter A; van Dover, R Bruce; DiSalvo, Francis J; Gruner, Sol M; Wiesner, Ulrich · Adv Mater · 2021

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Superconducting quantum metamaterials are expected to exhibit a variety of novel properties, but have been a major challenge to prepare as a result of the lack of appropriate synthetic routes to high-quality materials. Here, the discovery of synthesis routes to block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly-directed niobium nitrides and carbonitrides is described. The resulting materials exhibit unusual structure retention even at temperatures as high as 1000 °C and resulting critical temperature, T<sub>c</sub> , values comparable to their bulk analogues. Applying the concepts of soft matter self-assembly, it is demonstrated that a series of four different BCP-directed mesostructured superconductors are accessible from a single triblock terpolymer. Resulting materials display a mesostructure-dependent T<sub>c</sub> without substantial variation of the XRD-measured lattice parameters. Finally, field-dependent magnetization measurements of a sample with double-gyroid morphology show abrupt jumps comparable in overall behavior to flux avalanches. Results suggest a fruitful convergence of soft and hard condensed matter science.