Physics Colloquium – Kyuil Cho

Superconductors Investigated by High-Energy Particle Irradiation

Dr. Kyuil Cho, Assistant Professor
Department of Physics, Hope College

Superconductor is a material that shows zero resistivity and Meissner effect below its critical temperature. This material has been used for various applications such as superconducting wires, medical device MRI, superconducting magnets for particle accelerators, quantum computing circuits, and many more. The superconductivity research group at Hope College conducts unique research on novel superconductors by using high energy particles. High energy particle irradiation is a useful method to generate homogeneous artificial defects on superconductors. By investigating how the defects affect the properties of superconductors, one can uncover the fundamental mechanism of superconductivity.

In this talk, recent investigations on YBCO (0.6 and 1.7 MeV proton) and NbSe2 (2.5 MeV electron) will be presented.