The Leonardo Grant recipient Isabel Guillamón constructs a new microscope for investigating superconductivity
Isabel Guillamón Gómez (Murcia, 1981) has completed the first tunnel-effect microscope in Spain capable of functioning in elevated magnetic fields, for which she received a Leonardo Grant in 2014. This instrument, now undergoing testing, will allow the study of physical phenomena with enormous technological potential, such as superconductivity. This Ramón y Cajal researcher into Low Temperatures from Universidad Autónoma de Madrid has also just obtained one of the prestigious Starting Grant projects from the European Research Council, with which she will be able to construct an even more powerful microscope.
11 December, 2015
Being able to understand and master superconductivity ‘would be transformational for our society,’ explains Guillamón Gómez. ‘Superconductors can transport electrical current without any loss. Superconductor cables can be used to construct more effective motors, generators and computers. We could prevent the loss of the 20% of electrical energy that now takes place between power stations and our homes. The use of superconductors could revolutionize the way that we transport and store energy.’
But physicists have still not managed to discover how to produce superconductivity at high temperatures. The instruments designed by this researcher will assist this task by revealing for the first time the electronic properties of the materials at atomic scale when superconductivity has still not appeared. Understanding the material in its normal state is essential for understanding its superconductor state.
The prototype constructed thanks to the Leonardo Grant, installed at the Low-Temperature Laboratory of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) barely takes up a few centimeters of space itself, although it is surrounded by control devices and the coil that generates the magnetic field of 15 Tesla in which it operates
‘The development of a microscope with very elevated magnetic fields is an ambitious project that opens up enormous possibilities,’ explains Guillamón. ‘It allows us to study the changes that the magnetic field induces in matter, and thus to make progress in resolving problems with a major impact on our society. As well as superconductivity, it is useful for research into different fields of Condensed Matter Physics such as graphene, nanotechnology and magnetism.’
The project that has now been awarded by the European Research Council (ERC), called Using Extreme Magnetic Field Microscopy to Visualize Correlated Electron Materials (PNICTEYES) will receive funding of 1.7 million euros over five years. Among the possibilities opened up will be the possibility of increasing the magnetic field to 22 Tesla, which is around 500,000 times the earth’s field.
Thanks to this ERC project, UAM will house the strongest magnetic field available outside an international facility such as the European Magnetic Field Laboratory (EMFL) or the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL, MagLab) in the U.S.
This researcher and her team will also construct a microscope for these international facilities, which will operate under magnetic fields of more than 30 Tesla.
Guillamón Gómez already has experience working in these facilities. At NHMFL she used the most powerful magnet in the world, capable of providing magnetic fields of a million times the earth’s magnetic field: ‘When I was using this magnet I was using the energy equivalent to two high-speed AVE trains traveling at full speed; all this power was concentrated in only a few centimeters; and to dissipate this power, as much water circulated through the magnet as that needed by a city of 30,000 inhabitants. These magnets are essential for understanding many things such as high critical temperature superconductivity’.