Moses Hung-Wai Chan, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor Moses Hung-Wai Chan, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Richard Wallace Robinett, Committee Member Jainendra Jain, Committee Member Alexey Silakov, Outside Member Nitin Samarth, Program Head/Chair
Keywords:
sodium-ammonia liquid superconductor superconductivity in sodium-ammonia metal-ammonia
Abstract:
This dissertation describes a series of experiments with sodium-ammonia solution under conditions aimed at achieving a homogeneous phase in the temperature range 20-100K. The solution is characterized by strong electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions and has been predicted to be superconducting at high temperatures (180K) if a homogeneous phase could be achieved. Normally, though, the solution experiences multiple phase separations in the process of cooling. We performed three experiments in an attempt to study the properties of the homogeneous phase. In the first experiment we quenched the solution in a capillary. In the second we studied the solution in porous glass, and in the third we splat-quenched the solution onto a cold sapphire plate. While, possibly, the homogeneous phase was achieved in the second and/or the third experiments, the chemical degradation of the solution and other technical problems did not allow us to obtain consistent data about the transport properties of the solution.
