Sam King
Durham university
Co-hort year: 2025
I am a PhD student in the superconductivity group at Durham university. Previously, I completed an integrated master’s degree in physics, also at Durham university. In my master’s project, I developed Controlled-Z gates for dual-species Rydberg arrays using a computational model.
In my PhD research programme, I will use computational techniques and time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) theory to model both low- and high-temperature superconductors (LTS and HTS), including polycrystalline materials and those with inclusions. Recent work has demonstrated that the next generation of fusion tokamaks may be most effective at fields greater than 16 Tesla, raising the need for new superconducting materials that will perform well at fields approaching 20 Tesla. In this context, the values of current density in high-field superconductors are typically less than 1% of the theoretical limit, offering a huge opportunity for technological improvement. I will be using computational techniques to model the mechanism of flux pinning and the behaviour of flux flow in high-field superconductors, with the intention of increasing the critical current values by a factor of 10 in superconductors used in fusion applications.
I will also use analytical techniques to solve for the mechanism behind superconductivity. While the Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer (BCS) theory explains conventional superconductivity through the electron-phonon mechanism, it cannot explain the HTS materials used in fusion applications, so I will be using analytical calculations to better understand and explain the empirical scaling laws that Uemura has developed.
The current-carrying capacity of interfaces in anisotropic superconductors is poorly understood. I will use computational and analytical techniques to address the role of interfaces, with the intention of better understanding polycrystalline high-field anisotropic materials such as the high-field rare-earth barium copper oxide superconductors used in fusion.
Email: samuel.r.king@durham.ac.uk
Supervisors
