Superconductivity found in meteorites

Wampler, James; Thiemens, Mark; Cheng, Shaobo; Zhu, Yimei; Schuller, Ivan K.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1918056117

Superconductivity found in meteorites

Journal Article · Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1918056117· OSTI ID:1618399

Wampler, James ^[1]; Thiemens, Mark ^[1]; Cheng, Shaobo ^[2]; Zhu, Yimei ^[2]; Schuller, Ivan K. ^[1]

Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Meteorites can contain a wide range of material phases due to the extreme environments found in space and are ideal candidates to search for natural superconductivity. However, meteorites are chemically inhomogeneous, and superconducting phases in them could potentially be minute, rendering detection of these phases difficult. To alleviate this difficulty, we have studied meteorite samples with the ultrasensitive magnetic field modulated microwave spectroscopy (MFMMS) technique [J. G. Ramírez, A. C. Basaran, J. de la Venta, J. Pereiro, I. K. Schuller, Rep. Prog. Phys. 77, 093902 (2014)]. Here, we report the identification of superconducting phases in two meteorites, Mundrabilla, a group IAB iron meteorite [R. Wilson, A. Cooney, Nature 213, 274–275 (1967)] and GRA 95205, a ureilite [J. N. Grossman,Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 33, A221–A239 (1998)]. MFMMS measurements detected superconducting transitions in samples from each, above 5 K. By subdividing and remeasuring individual samples, grains containing the largest superconducting fraction were isolated. The superconducting grains were then characterized with a series of complementary techniques, including vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and numerical methods. Finally, these measurements and analysis identified the likely phases as alloys of lead, indium, and tin.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1618399

Report Number(s):: BNL--215929-2020-JAAM

Journal Information:: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 117; ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:: National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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