Dr. Edward Yelland

Position:
Research Fellowship
Research Theme:
Condensed Matter and Photonics
Research Group:
Hard Condensed Matter
Institution:
Edinburgh
Email address:
eay1@st-andrews.ac.uk
Website:
http://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/people/ed-yelland
Telephone number:
+44 (0)1334 463208
Address:
School of Physics & Astronomy, Physical Science Building, North Haugh, St Andrews, KY16 9SS, United Kingdom

Research interests

My research explores the properties of a wide variety of crystalline materials under extreme conditions - that is, high magnetic fields, low temperatures and high pressures. Target materials include those which have clear promise for technological applications, for example the cuprate and iron-based superconductors, and others materials that present particular challenges to understanding, including uranium-containing magnetic superconductors from the "heavy fermion" class of metallic compounds.A recurring theme across all the materials I work on is proximity to quantum phase transitions. These are transitions between qualitatively distinct phases of matter that take place at zero temperature, unlike classical phase transitions for which thermal fluctuations play a vital role. Very low temperatures (down to 20 millikelvin) combined with extremely pure samples of crystalline material provide the necessary conditions for fragile quantum phases, including unconventional superconductivity, to survive.Examples of ongoing research projects include:

  •     Exploring the coexisting ferromagnetism and superconductivity in heavy fermion materials URhGe and UGe2 through transport and thermodynamic measurements.
  •     Investigating the metallic and superconducting states of inversion-symmetry-breaking metals and looking for the signatures predicted to accompany the broken symmetry, e.g. mixed singlet-triplet superconductivity, topological spin structures.
  •     Understanding the electronic properties of the highest conductivity oxide known, palladium cobaltate (PdCoO2) and the magnetic properties of its structural analogue PdCrO2.

The measurements are performed at the Universities of Edinburgh and St Andrews in collaboration with the groups of Profs Huxley (Edinburgh) and Mackenzie (St Andrews), and at various high magnetic-field and beamline facilities around the world. Crystals are grown by Prof Huxley's group and by other groups.

Teaching

No teaching duties beyond undergraduate project supervision

Research outputs

  1. Strong Increase of T-c of Sr2RuO4 Under Both Tensile and Compressive Strain DOI
    Edward A. Yelland, Science, 344, 6181 , p. 283-285 (2014)
  2. Quantum Oscillations and High Carrier Mobility in the Delafossite PdCoO2 DOI
    Clifford W. Hicks, Alexandra S. Gibbs, Andrew P. Mackenzie, Hiroshi Takatsu, Yoshiteru Maeno and Edward A. Yelland, Physical Review Letters, 109, 11 (2012)
  3. High-field superconductivity at an electronic topological transition in URhGe DOI
    Edward Yelland, J. M. Barraclough, W. Wang, K. V. Kamenev and Andrew Huxley, Nature Physics, 7, 11 , p. 890-894 (2011)
  4. Spin dynamics in Sr3Ru2O7 near the metamagnetic transition by inelastic neutron scattering DOI
    S. Ramos, E. M. Forgan, C. Bowell, S. M. Hayden, A. J. Schofield, A. Wildes, S. P. Brown, M. Laver, R. S. Perry, Y. Maeno et al., Physica B: Condensed Matter, 403, 5-9 , p. 1270-1272 (2008)
  5. Quantum oscillations in the underdoped cuprate YBa2Cu4O8 DOI
    E. A. Yelland, J. Singleton, C. H. Mielke, N. Harrison, F. F. Balakirev, B. Dabrowski, J. R. Cooper and Edward Yelland, Physical Review Letters, 100, 4 (2008)
Last updated: 19 Feb 2018 at 21:11