Projects

Started

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)

Not Cross-cutting

Peter Wahl
University of St Andrews

Standard

EPSRC

01 October 2025

01 April 2029

42 months

£1,434,808

Unknown

Scotland

NC : Physical Sciences

Peter Wahl, University of St Andrews

Phil King, University of St Andrews
Andreas Rost, University of St Andrews

Developing more energy-efficient technologies is a key component of sustainable economic growth. Superconductors can make a key contribution to such technologies, however their ground state is typically only reached at very low temperatures. Only one group of materials, the cuprate high-temperature superconductors, so far exhibits superconductivity at temperatures above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen and at ambient pressure, which has made it challenging to develop a universal understanding of the pairing mechanism in these materials. Recently, superconductivity at similarly high temperatures has been reported in a second class of transition metal oxides, the lanthanum nickelates, albeit so far only under pressure. Discovery of a second class of transition metal oxides that exhibits high temperature superconductivity promises new opportunities to establish an understanding of the pairing mechanism in these materials and vastly better possibilities their properties in applications. The lanthanum nickelates are structurally very similar to the cuprates: they are both perovskite oxides, and superconductivity is observed in layered compounds of the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) series – suggesting that similar physics might be at play. The primary objective of this research proposal is to systematically investigate the ground states of RP type phases derived from lanthanum nickelates in a quest to stabilise the superconductivity at ambient pressure as well as establish their correlated phases and understand their origin. To be able to harvest this potential high temperature superconductivity, but also improve our understanding of and ability to design correlated phases in transition metal oxides, we propose here an approach that combines thin film growth with characterisation by spectroscopies and electronic transport and ab-initio modelling to identify the key physics, enable identification of the superconducting phase, and unravel the mystery of high-temperature superconductivity in lanthanum nickelates. To achieve this objective, we will Use advanced spectroscopic methods to understand the electronic structure and correlated phases of single crystals of lanthanum nickelates Establish growth of electronic designer metamaterials, consisting of layered structures of different members of the Ruddlesden-Popper series of the lanthanum nickelates Employ a range of methods to identify the superconducting phase and stabilise it in thin films at ambient pressur

07/01/26