Observation of plasmon-phonons in a metamaterial superconductor using inelastic neutron scattering

Phys Rev B. 2019 Jul;100(2):10.1103/physrevb.100.024515. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.100.024515.

Abstract

A metamaterial approach is capable of drastically increasing the critical temperature, T c , of composite metal-dielectric superconductors as demonstrated by the tripling of T c that was observed in bulk Al-Al2O3 coreshell metamaterials. A theoretical model based on the Maxwell-Garnett approximation provides a microscopic explanation of this effect in terms of electron-electron pairing mediated by a hybrid plasmon-phonon excitation. We report an observation of this excitation in Al-Al2O3 core-shell metamaterials using inelastic neutron scattering. This result provides support for this mechanism of superconductivity in metamaterials.