Successful IMPRS winter school with high-level experts in the field of high-Tc superconductors
From December 3-6, 2024, the Winter School on ‘Tc on the rise - Novel Trends in Superconductivity’ took place at the MPI for Solid State Research. This Winter School for young scientists was jointly organised by the graduate schools IMPRS-CMS (Stuttgart) & IMPRS-CPQM (Dresden) and the MPI-UBC-UTokyo Center for Quantum Materials.
Fifteen fantastic lectures covered a wide range of topics on various aspects of superconductivity: Manfred Sigrist, Thomas Schäfer and Mathias Scheurer set the scene by explaining the difference between conventional and unconventional superconductors and how these can be described using modern theoretical models and methods. Hidenori Takagi provided a comprehensive overview of the properties relevant to superconductivity and the materials in which they can be found. Andreas Schnyder pointed us to the relevance of topology for superconductivity. Mona Berciu introduced bipolarons as a mechanism to describe superconducting pairing. Eva Zurek showed us how to use ab initio theory to predict new materials with conventional superconductivity. Audrey Grockowiak and Sven Friedemann gave us interesting experimental insights into superconductivity in hydrides at high pressure in diamond anvil cells and near room temperature. Daniele Nicoletti presented the results of his experiments using laser pulses to induce transient superconducting states. Andrea Damascelli showed us how to probe the coherence of superconducting condensates in time- and angle-resolved photoemission experiments. Ryo Shimano explained his pioneering experiments on the detection of the so-called amplitude or Higgs mode in superconductors. Hilary Noad and Andrew Mackenzie showed that uniaxial pressure applied to single crystals can provide new insights into unconventional superconductivity. Finally, Tabea Arndt gave us some very interesting insights into the many possible applications of high-temperature superconductors and the technical challenges involved.
Between the lectures, there was a lively exchange among the nearly 100 registered participants, with many discussions during the coffee breaks and a poster session with about 30 posters on Wednesday evening.
We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the Winter School and look forward to future events of this kind.
