Strain-stabilized superconductivity
Ruf, J.P., Paik, H., Schreiber, N.J., Nair, H.P., Miao, L., Kawasaki, J.K., Nelson, J.N., Faeth, B.D., Lee, Y., Goodge, B.H., Pamuk, B., Fennie, C.J., Kourkoutis, L.F., Schlom, D.G., Shen, K.M.
Abstract
Abstract Superconductivity is among the most fascinating and well-studied quantum states of matter. Despite over 100 years of research, a detailed understanding of how features of the normal-state electronic structure determine superconducting properties has remained elusive. For instance, the ability to deterministically enhance the superconducting transition temperature by design, rather than by serendipity, has been a long sought-after goal in condensed matter physics and materials science, but achieving this objective may require new tools, techniques and approaches. Here, we report the transmutation of a normal metal into a superconductor through the application of epitaxial strain. We demonstrate that synthesizing RuO2 thin films on (110)-oriented TiO2 substrates enhances the density of states near the Fermi level, which stabilizes superconductivity under strain, and suggests that a promising strategy to create new transition-metal superconductors is to apply judiciously chosen anisotropic strains that redistribute carriers within the low-energy manifold of d orbitals.