Superconductivity and strongly correlated materials in Bariloche

Abstract

In June 1986, the news on the discovery of high critical temperature superconductivity at IBM, Switzerland, by the physicists Bednorz and Müller, reached the laboratories at the Bariloche Atomic Center in the Argentine Patagonia. The expertise in experimental techniques at low temperatures led by Paco de la Cruz and his team and also in crystal growth led by Daniel Esparza and his group, were important to reproduce the results in a question of a few months. This discovery produced enormous enthusiasm in the community and incentivized research in these materials in other laboratories and theoretical groups at the Bariloche Atomic Center, which had already a vast experience and trajectory in materials science. In this paper I will delve on how this striking discovery fostered theoretical and experimental research in Bariloche which lasts until today.