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EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow Jake Ayres awarded fellowship to carry out research into 'strange metal' regimes

29 June 2022

EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow Jake Ayres has been awarded an Early Career Fellowship by the Leverhulme Trust to undertake research within the School of Physics into the “strange metal” regimes of certain inorganic and organic high temperature superconductors.

In their non-superconducting state, strange metals are conductors – albeit poor ones -- with properties that deviate markedly from those expected from conventional metals like copper. The hallmark of a ‘strange’ metal is a simple linear-in-temperature resistivity extending over an anomalously broad chemical doping and/or pressure range. Recently, Jake and collaborators revealed an accompanying linear-in-magnetic-field resistivity. “The simplicity of strange metals is hugely deceptive. It isn’t at all obvious how simple and extended linear behaviors can be generated based on our usual understanding of electronic transport in metals.”

In both the inorganic and organic systems Jake will study as part of his Fellowship, it is unclear how the strange metallic state is able to host high-temperature superconductivity in the first place. “Understanding the strange metal in these materials is likely to hold the key to understanding their unconventional superconducting states. It is almost paradoxical that the best superconductors are in fact very bad conductors in their normal state.”

Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships are aimed at those in the earlier stages of their careers and are tenable for 3 years. “I am, of course, hugely grateful to the Leverhulme Trust for granting me this opportunity and look forward to continuing my research in the School of Physics here in Bristol.” Jake will commence his Fellowship in November, working under the theme of Quantum and Soft Matter.

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