Observation of Plasmon-Phonons in a Metamaterial Superconductor using Inelastic Neutron Scattering

Published

July 24, 2019

Author(s)

Vera N. Smolyaninova, Jeffrey W. Lynn, Nicholas Butch, Heather H. Chen-Mayer, Joseph C. Prestigiacomo, M. S. Osofsky, Igor I. Smolyaninov

Abstract

Recent experiments have demonstrated that the metamaterial approach is capable of drastically increasing the critical temperature, T_c, of composite metal-dielectric epsilon near zero (ENZ) metamaterial superconductors. For example, a tripling of the critical temperature has been observed in Al-Al₂O₃ ENZ core-shell metamaterials. A theoretical model based on the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium approximation provides a microscopic explanation of this effect in terms of electron-electron pairing mediated by a hybrid plasmon-phonon excitation in the composite metal-dielectric metamaterial. We report the first observation of a hybrid plasmon-phonon excitation in Al-Al₂O₃ ENZ core-shell metamaterials using inelastic neutron scattering. These results provide strong support for this novel mechanism of superconductivity in ENZ metamaterials.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

100

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Metamaterial superconductor, enhanced transition temperature, inelastic neutron scattering, phasmon-phonon interaction, aluminum

Citation

Smolyaninova, V. , Lynn, J. , Butch, N. , Chen-Mayer, H. , Prestigiacomo, J. , Osofsky, M. and Smolyaninov, I. (2019), Observation of Plasmon-Phonons in a Metamaterial Superconductor using Inelastic Neutron Scattering, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=926184 (Accessed October 9, 2025)