Department of Physics

Cavendish Laboratory

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Contact Details

Postal Address

Dr. Michael Sutherland
Cavendish Laboratory
JJ Thomson Ave.
Cambridge CB3 0HE

Phone & Fax

Phone: +44 1223 337389
Fax: +44 1223 337351

E-mail

Email: mls41 (at) cam.ac.uk

Dr. Michael Sutherland

About Me

I am currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow studying correlated electron physics in the Quantum Matter group. I am also a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where I direct studies in Physical sciences. For information on undergraduate physics studies at Corpus, please see our College physics web site. My research interests lie in studying the transport properties and electronic structure of superconductors and novel correlated electron systems at low temperatures.

Research Interests

Low Temperature Heat and Charge Transport

Measuring the ability of a material to transport heat at very low temperatures has emerged as a useful probe of correlated electron systems, as heat transport offersdirect access to the low-energy electronic excitations which are characteristic of the quantum ground state.
Ag5Pb2O6

In the important case of superconductors, performing such measurements in strong magnetic fields (up to 15 Tesla) and at temperatures as low as 0.04K allows us to distinguish between a superconducting gap that remains finite everywhere in reciprocal space, and one that vanishes along some special directions (ie. has nodes). One recent example of such a study was performed on the new superconductor C₆Yb, a compound consisting of Yb atoms sandwiched between planes of graphite, as depicted at left. Our findings are consistent with a so-called 's'-wave conventional superconductor, with a single, finite gap.

See Sutherland et. al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 067003 (2007)

Electronic Structure

The electronic structure of a metallic material is the fundamental starting place for understanding how interesting material properties such as magnetism or superconductivity arise. The Fermi surface is a useful concept in this regard - it is the contour of constant energy which divides filled and unfilled electron states in reciprocal space. The de-Haas van-Alphen (dHvA) effect, which occurs in a strong magnetic field, can directly measure the shape of the Fermi surface as well as give information about electron correlations. We have recently used the dHvA technique to study the heavy Fermion material YbAlB₄, with the Fermi Surface shown at right. This compound appears to be near a magnetic instability at zero applied pressure and field, leading to unusual transport, magnetic and thermodynamic properties.

See O'Farrell et. al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 216402 (2009).

New Measurement Techniques

We are actively developing new techniques for sensitive cryogenic measurements of electronic properties of materials. One example is custom made piezoresistive torque cantilevers, designed for measurements of magnetic anistropy and quantum oscillations (such as the lever shown at right). Another is the development of quantum oscillation techniques in high pressure anvil cells, in collaboration with Swee Goh and Patricia Alireza).

See Goh et. al. Current Applied Physics, Vol. 8, 304 (2008)

PhD projects

If you are a prospective graduate student who is interested in this type of research and would like to know more, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'm always available to discuss potential projects and research ideas.

List of Publications

Publications and Preprints

"Transport and Thermodynamic Evidence for a Marginal Fermi Liquid State in ZrZn₂"

Mike Sutherland, R.P. Smith, N. Marcano, Y. Zou, F. M. Grosche, N. Kimura, S. M. Hayden, S. Takashima, M. Nohara and H. Takagi
Phys. Rev. B 85, 035118 (2012)

"Low-Energy Quasiparticles Probed by Heat Transport in the Iron Based Superconductor LaFePO"

Mike Sutherland, J. Dunn, William Toews, Eoin O'Farrell, James Analytis, Ian Fisher, R.W. Hill
Phys. Rev. B 85, 014517 (2012)

"Evidence for Dirac Nodes from Quantum Oscillations in SrFe₂As₂"

Mike Sutherland, D. J. Hills, B. S. Tan, M. M. Altarawneh, N. Harrison, J. Gillett, E. C. T. O'Farrell, T. M. Benseman, I. Kokanovic, P. Syers, J. R. Cooper, Suchitra E. Sebastian
Phys. Rev. B. 84, 180586 (2011)

"Enhancement of the Superconducting Transition Temperature under Pressure in Rare-Earth Doped Ca_1-xLa_xFe₂As₂ (x=0.27)"

Swee K. Goh, Lina E. Klintberg, J. M. Silver, F. M. Grosche, S. R. Saha, T. Drye, J. Paglione, Mike Sutherland
arXiv:1107.0689 (2011)

"Lifshitz critical point in the cuprate superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_y from high-field Hall effect measurements"

D LeBoeuf, N Doiron-Leyraud, B Vignolle, M Sutherland, BJ Ramshaw, J Levallois, R Daou, F Laliberte, O Cyr-Choiniere, J Chang, YJ Jo, L Balicas, RX Liang, DA Bonn, WN Hardy, C Proust, L Taillefer
Phys. Rev. B 83, 054506 (2011).

"Novel metallic states at low temperature"

SE Rowley, RP Smith, N Marcano, MPM Dean, A Kusmartseva, LJ Spalek, ECT O'Farrell, DA Tompsett, ML Sutherland, PL Alireza, C Ko, C Liu, E Pugh, SS Saxena, GG Lonzarich
Low. Temp. Physics 30, 2 (2011).

"Chemical Pressure and Physical Pressure in BaFe₂(As_(1-x)P_x)₂"
LE Klintberg, SK Goh, S Kasahara, Y Nakai, K Ishida, M Sutherland, T Shibauchi, Y Matsuda, T Terashima
J. Phys. Soc. Japan 79 123706 (2010).

"Fermi surface reconstruction and two-carrier modeling of the Hall effect in YBa₂Cu₄O₈"
P. Rourke, A. Bangura, C.Proust, J. Levallois, N. Doiron-Leyraud, D. LeBoeuf, L. Taillefer, S. Adachi, M. Sutherland, N. Hussey
Phys. Rev. B 82 020514(2010).

"Evidence of superconductivity on the border of quasi-2D ferromagnetism in Ca₂RuO₄ at high pressure"
P. Alireza, F. Nakamura, F, Swee Kuan Goh, Y. Maeno, S. Nakatsuji, Y.T.C. Ko, M. Sutherland, S. Julian, G.G. Lonzarich.
J. of Phys: Cond. Matt. 20, 052202 (2010).

"Quantum oscillations near a quantum critical end point in Sr₃Ru₂O₇"
J.-F. Mercure, A. W. Rost, E. C. T. O'Farrell, S. K. Goh, R. S. Perry, M. L. Sutherland, S. A. Grigera, R. A. Borzi, P. Gegenwart, A.S. Gibbs, A. P. Mackenzie
Phys. Rev. B 81, 235103 (2010).

"Quantum oscillations in the anomalous phase in Sr₃Ru₂O₇"
J.-F. Mercure, S. K. Goh, E. C. T. O'Farrell, R. S. Perry, M. L. Sutherland, A. Rost, S. A. Grigera, R. A. Borzi, P. Gegenwart, A. P. Mackenzie
Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 176401 (2009).

"Role of f Electrons in the Fermi Surface of the Heavy Fermion Superconductor beta-YbAlB₄"
E. C. O’Farrell, D. A. Tompsett, S. E. Sebastian, N. Harrison, C. Capan, L. Balicas, K. Kuga, A. Matsuo, K. Kindo, M. Tokunaga, S. Nakatsuji, G. Csányi, Z. Fisk, and M. L. Sutherland
Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 216402 (2009).

"Marginal Breakdown of the Fermi-liquid State on the Border of Metallic Ferromagnetism"
R. P. Smith, M. Sutherland, G. G. Lonzarich, S. S. Saxena, N. Kimura, S. Takashima, M. Nohara and H. Takagi.
Nature 455, 1220-1223 (2008) [Also featured in News and Views article in same issue].

"Fermi Surface Reconstruction in CeRh_1-xCo_xIn₅"
Swee K. Goh, Johnpierre Paglione, Mike Sutherland, E. C. T. O’Farrell, C. Bergemann, T. A. Sayles and M. B. Maple
Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 056402 (2008)

"High pressure de Haas-van Alphen studies of Sr₂RuO₄ using an anvil cell"
S.K. Goh, P.L. Alireza, PDA Mann, A.-M. Cumberlidgea, C. Bergemann, M. Sutherland and Y. Maeno
Current Applied Physics, Vol. 8, 304 (2008)

"Doping dependence of the superconducting gap in Tl₂Ba₂CuO_6+d from heat transport"
D. G. Hawthorn, S. Y. Li, M. Sutherland, Etienne Boaknin, R. W. Hill, C. Proust, F. Ronning, M. A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, Louis Taillefer, D. Peets, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy, and N. N. Kolesnikov
Phys. Rev. B 75, 104518 (2007).

"Bulk evidence for single-gap s-wave superconductivity in the intercalated graphite superconductor C₆Yb"
Mike Sutherland, Nicolas Doiron-Leyraud, Louis Taillefer, Thomas Weller, Mark Ellerby, S.S. Saxena
Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 067003 (2007).

"Onset of boson mode at superconducting critical point of underdoped YBa₂Cu₃O_y"
Nicolas Doiron-Leyraud, Mike Sutherland, S.Y. Li, Louis Taillefer, Ruixing Liang, D.A. Bonn, W.N. Hardy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 207001 (2006)

"Thermal conductivity in the vicinity of the quantum critical endpoint in Sr₃Ru₂O₇"
F. Ronning, R.W. Hill, M. Sutherland, D.G. Hawthorn, M.A. Tanatar, J. Paglione, Louis Taillefer, M.J. Graf, R.S. Perry, Y. Maeno, A.P. Mackenzie
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 067005 (2006)

"Nearly Free Electrons in the Layered Oxide Superconductor Ag₅Pb₂O₆"
Mike Sutherland, P. D. A. Mann, C. Bergemann, S. Yonezawa, and Y. Maeno
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 097008 (2006)

"Non-vanishing energy scales at the quantum critical point of CeCoIn₅"
Johnpierre Paglione, M. A. Tanatar, D. G. Hawthorn, F. Ronning, R. W. Hill, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, C. Petrovic
Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 106606 (2006)

"Delocalized Fermions in Underdoped Cuprate Superconductors"
Mike Sutherland, S.Y. Li, D. G. Hawthorn, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, M.A. Tanatar, J. Paglione, H. Zhang, Louis Taillefer, J. DeBenedictis, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy
Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 147004 (2005)

"Unpaired electrons in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn₅"
M. A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, S. Nakatsuji, D. G. Hawthorn, E. Boaknin, R. W. Hill, F. Ronning, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, C. Petrovic, P. C. Canfield and Z. Fisk
Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 067002 (2005)

"Heat Transport as a Probe of Electron Scattering by Spin Fluctuations: the Case of Antiferromagnetic CeRhIn₅"
Johnpierre Paglione, M.A. Tanatar, D.G. Hawthorn, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, C. Petrovic and P.C. Canfield
Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 216602 (2005)

"Giant electron-electron scattering in the Fermi-liquid state of Na_0.7CoO₂"
S. Y. Li, Louis Taillefer, D. G. Hawthorn, M. A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, M. Sutherland, R. W. Hill, C. H. Wang and X. H. Chen.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 056401 (2004).

"Transport in Ultraclean YBa₂Cu₃O₇: neither Unitary nor Born Impurity Scattering"
R.W.Hill, Christian Lupien, M.Sutherland, Etienne Boaknin, D. G. Hawthorn, Cyril Proust, F. Ronning, Louis Taillefer, Ruixing Liang, D. A. Bonn, W. N. Hardy and Robert Gagnon.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 027001, 2004

"Field-Induced Quantum Critical Point in CeCoIn₅"
Johnpierre Paglione, M.A. Tanatar, D.G. Hawthorn, Etienne Boaknin, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, C. Petrovic, P.C. Canfield
Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 246405, 2003

"Thermal Conductivity across the Phase Diagram of Cuprates: Low-Energy Quasiparticles and the Doping Dependence of the Supercondting Gap"
Mike Sutherland, D.G. Hawthorn, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, S. Wakimoto, H. Zhang, C. Proust, Etienne Boaknin, C. Lupien, Louis Taillefer, Ruixing Liang, D.A. Bonn, W.N. Hardy, Robert Gagnon, N.E. Hussey, T. Kimura, M. Nohara and H. Takagi.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 197004 2003

"Field-Induced Thermal Metal-to-Insulator Transition in Underdoped La_2-xSr_xCuO₄₊"
D. G. Hawthorn, R. W. Hill, C. Proust, F. Ronning, Mike Sutherland, Etienne Boaknin, C. Lupien, M. A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, S. Wakimoto, H. Zhang, Louis Taillefer, T. Kimura, M. Nohara, H. Takagi, and N. E. Hussey
Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 197004 2003

"Heat Conduction in the Vortex State of NbSe₂: Evidence for Multiband Superconductivity"
Etienne Boaknin, M. A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, D. Hawthorn, F. Ronning, R. W. Hill, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, Jeff Sonier, S. M. Hayden, and J. W. Brill
Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 117003, 2003

Conference Proceedings

"Shubnikov-de Haas measurements on LuRh₂Si₂"
S. Friedemann, S. K. Goh, F. M. Grosche, Z. Fisk, M. Sutherland.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1110.6763 (2011).

"Ferromagnetic and ferroelectric quantum phase transitions"
S. Rowley, R. Smith, M. Dean, L. Spalek, M. Sutherland, M. Saxena, P. Alireza, C. Ko, C. Liu, E. Pugh, S. Sebastian, G. Lonzarich.
Physica Status Solidi B, 247, 469 (2010).

"Observation of de Haas-van Alphen Oscillations Across the Phase diagram of CeRh_1-xCo_xIn₅"
M L Sutherland, S K Goh, E C T O’Farrell, C Bergemann, J Paglione, T A Sayles, M B Maple.
J. Phys.; Conf. Ser. 150 042193 (2009).

"Properties of the Nearly Free Electron Superconductor Ag₅Pb₂O₆ Inferred from Fermi Surface Measurements"
P. D. A. Mann, M. Sutherland, C. Bergemann, S. Yonezawa, Y. Maeno
(submitted to Physica C, proceedings of M2S 2006)

"Doping dependence of superconducting gap in YBa₂Cu₃O_y from universal heat transport"
Mike Sutherland, D.G. Hawthorn, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, S. Wakimoto, H. Zhang, C. Proust, E. Boaknin, C. Lupien, M.A. Tanatar, J. Paglione, R. Liang, D.A. Bonn, W.N. Hardy, Louis Taillefer.
Physica C 408-10, 672 (2004)

"Multiband superconductivity in NbSe₂ from heat transport"
Etienne Boaknin, M.A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, D.G. Hawthorn, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, J. Sonier, S.M. Hayden, J.W. Brill
Physica C 408-10, 727 (2004)

"Field-induced quantum critical point in CeCoIn₅"
Johnpierre Paglione, M.A. Tanatar, D.G. Hawthorn, Etienne Boaknin, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, M. Sutherland, Louis Taillefer, C. Petrovic, P. C. Canfield
Physica C 408-10, 705 (2004)

"Field-induced thermal metal-to-insulator transition in underdoped LSCO"
D.G. Hawthorn, R.W. Hill, F. Ronning, Mike Sutherland, Etienne Boaknin, M.A. Tanatar, Johnpierre Paglione, S. Wakimoto, H. Zhang, Louis Taillefer
Physica C 408-10, 725 (2004)



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