For years, physicists have been trying to explain a quantum phenomenon that occurs in a large class of superconducting materials: Electrons in so-called "strange metals" scatter at high rates in ways affected by temperature. Figuring out why this happens in certain unconventional metals could hold the keys to many quantum material puzzles, including high-temperature superconductivity, long sought after by physicists for a more efficient means of electrical energy transfer.
In two new papers, an international collaboration of researchers including Cornell physicists explain, on the microscopic level, why such "Planckian" scattering occurs in the compound PdCrO2 while it does not in its nearly identical "sister" PdCoO2.
Planckian scattering, the rate at which electrons bump into material imperfections and each other, increases linearly with temperature. Using a comparison of PdCrO2 and PdCoO2—which are very clean crystals with well-documented properties—the researchers give for the first time a quantitatively accurate description of the origin of the mysterious "Planckian scattering rate" in strongly interacting metals.
"T-linear Resistivity From Magneto-Elastic Scattering: Application to PdCrO2" published Aug. 28 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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