Doug Bonn, Professor

B.Sc., Ph.D., McMaster (83, 89)
Postdoct., UBC (89-92)
Research Assoc., UBC (92-94)
CIAR Assoc. (High T_c Supercond.)
A.P. Sloan Found. Fellow (96-98)
CAP Herzberg Medal (97)
Steacie Fellowship (1999-2001)
UBC Killam Research Prize (2000)
BC Science and Technology Award (2000)

office: Hennings 405, tel. (604) 822-3816
lab: AMPEL 243, tel. (604) 822-1997
FAX: (604) 822-5324
E-mail:bonn@physics.ubc.ca
snail-mail:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Univ. of British Columbia
6224 Agricultural Rd.
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
Canada

Research Interests

My main area of research is the study of high temperature superconductors, particularly their electromagnetic properties at microwave frequencies. The screening and absorption of electromagnetic radiation at these low frequencies provide some of the key means of probing the pairing state of electrons in superconductors, and the excitations out of that superconducting groundstate. These measurements have provided key information on the d-wave pairing state of the 93 Kelvin superconductor YBCO and they continue to reveal new phenomena as we develop samples of increasing perfection and doping control. The materials aspect of the research program at UBC also connects us to numerous other experiments worldwide. The ultimate motivation of this program is to help understand the origin of high temperature superconductivity, a major unsolved problem in condensed matter physics. Closely connected to this is a program of research aimed at the application of the high temperature superconductors in wireless communications.
This work on high T_c superconductors is part of a broad collaboration at UBC (Hardy, Liang, Carolan, Brewer, Kiefl, Eldridge) and with other researchers throughout North America. The preparation of state-of-the-art crystals of high T_c superconductors has placed this group at the forefront of research into the fundamental properties of these materials, involving us in numerous collaborations with researchers who make use of materials grown at UBC.

A few of my current students' projects involve:

Microwave surface resistance of high temperature superconductors from 1-75 GHz
Development and characterization of high purity underdoped cuprate crystals
Microwave applications of high temperature superconductors (in collaboration with COMDEV in Cambridge, Ont., and Superconductor Technonologies in Santa Barbara, CA).
Effect of impurities on the microwave properties of superconductors at low temperatures
Microwave properties of low-loss dielectrics for wireless applications

If are a student interested in joining the superconductivity group, or you would like to find out more about superconductivity research at UBC, check out our
UBC Superconductivity Home Page.

Selected Publications

"Microwave Surface Impedance of High Temperature Superconductors", in Physical Properties of High Temperature Superconductors, Vol. V, edited by D.M. Ginsberg (World Scientific, 1996), D.A. Bonn, and W.N. Hardy.
"Microwave Spectroscopy of Thermally Excited Quasiparticles in YBa₂Cu₃O_6.993 Crystals", Phys. Rev. B 60, 1349-1359 (1999),. A. Hosseini, R. Harris, Saeid Kamal, P. Dosanjh, J. Preston, Ruixing Liang, W.N. Hardy and D.A. Bonn.
"C-Axis Electrodynamics of YBCO ", Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1298-1301 (1998)., A. Hosseini, Saeid Kamal, D.A. Bonn, Ruixing Liang and W.N. Hardy.

For a less formal source of information on me, you can check out my
personal web page.

UBC Superconductivity Home Page

UBC Physics and Astronomy