Superconductivity was first observed in 1911, and while a century of study has revealed a great deal about this exotic state of matter, much remains to be understood. Strong magnetic fields typically destroy superconductivity, yet in some materials superconductivity can survive under extremely high magnetic fields—or even be strengthened by an applied field. I will introduce several known mechanisms that can underlie this seemingly paradoxical behavior, along with examples from real materials. I will also talk about field-induced superconductivity that is not well understood in the heavy fermion superconductor uranium ditelluride. Our recent experiments on UTe2 have revealed an unpredicted and unprecedented dependence of superconductivity on the angle of the applied magnetic field. I will discuss what these results can tell us about superconductivity in uranium ditelluride as well as the many new questions they introduce.
Lecture
Lewis Lab 316
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