A superconductor is a material that can conduct electricity without resistance when cooled below a certain critical temperature. This remarkable property means there is no energy loss in the form of heat, making superconductors highly efficient compared to ordinary conductive materials like copper or aluminum. Superconductors are pivotal in a variety of applications including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), levitated trains (maglev), and in the cores of high-performance transformers and generators. The phenomenon of superconductivity was first discovered in 1911 by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, who observed it in mercury at temperatures near absolute zero. Since then, scientists have developed various types of superconducting materials, including high-temperature superconductors that operate at relatively higher temperatures, though still requiring significant cooling. The ongoing research aims to find new materials that can achieve superconductivity at even higher temperatures, ideally close to room temperature, which would revolutionize energy transmission and many technologies reliant on electromagnetic fields.
Flatiron Institute senior research scientist Shiwei Zhang and his team have utilized the Hubbard model to computationally re-create key features of the superconductivity in materials…
Superconducting loops could allow computers to retain and retrieve information more efficiently. Computers work in digits — 0s and 1s to be exact. Their calculations…
The performance of numerous cutting-edge technologies, from lithium-ion batteries to the next wave of superconductors, hinges on a physical characteristic called intercalation. Predicting which intercalated…
Thermoelectric effect reveals full picture of fluctuations in superconductivity. Weak fluctuations in superconductivity,[1] a precursor phenomenon to superconductivity, have been successfully detected by a research…
Scientists at Ames National Laboratory have discovered miassite, a naturally occurring mineral that is an unconventional superconductor, challenging previous beliefs and advancing our understanding of…
Harvard scientists have made a significant advance in high-pressure physics by creating a tool that directly images superconducting materials under extreme conditions, facilitating new discoveries…
UTe2, an unconventional superconductor studied by international researchers, exhibits unique superconductivity under high magnetic fields, offering new technological potential. At low enough temperatures, certain metals…
Material has potential applications in superconducting circuits for the next generation of industrial electronics. Researchers used the Advanced Photon Source to verify the rare characteristics…
New research challenges the conventional wisdom regarding superconducting quantum transitions. Princeton physicists have discovered an abrupt change in quantum behavior while experimenting with a three-atom-thin…
Unconventional Superconductor CeRh2As2: A Quantum Superstar The research conducted by Elena Hassinger, an expert in low-temperature physics working at ct.qmat—Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter…
Fabrication method could facilitate materials discovery. Harvard team led by Philip Kim innovates in high-temperature superconductors using cuprates. Developed the world’s first superconducting diode, advancing…
Recent research has unlocked key aspects of high-critical-temperature superconductors, identifying their unique ‘strange metal’ state and a crucial quantum critical point. This discovery, resulting from…
Detection efficiency is 1,000 times higher than conventional ion detectors due to high sensitivity. An international research team led by quantum physicist Markus Arndt (University…
This surprising result is important for understanding unconventional superconductors and other materials where electrons band together to act collectively. Long before researchers discovered the electron…
Rice physicists find evidence of exotic charge transport in quantum material. True to form, a “strange metal” quantum material proved strangely quiet in recent quantum…
Quantum scientists have discovered a phenomenon in purple bronze that could be key to the development of a ‘perfect switch’ in quantum devices which flips…
Having more pixels could advance everything from biomedical imaging to astronomical observations. Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their colleagues…
Electronics of the future hinge on the discovery of unique materials. Sometimes, however, the naturally occurring topology of atoms makes it difficult for new physical…