https://phys.org/physics-news/superconductivity en-us The latest news on superconductivity Superconductivity is the phenomenon by which, at sufficiently low temperatures, electric current can flow in a metal with no resistance. While certain metals are excellent superconductors, other metals cannot superconduct at all. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-noble-metals-superconductors.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Thu, 07 Nov 2024 13:30:01 EST news650208198 Using muon spin rotation at the Swiss Muon Source SmS, researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have discovered that a quantum phenomenon known as time-reversal symmetry breaking occurs at the surface of the Kagome superconductor RbV3Sb5 at temperatures as high as 175 K. This sets a new record for the temperature at which time-reversal symmetry breaking is observed among Kagome systems. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-kagome-superconductor-temperatures.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Wed, 06 Nov 2024 04:35:37 EST news650090130 New materials designed by a University of Illinois Chicago graduate student may help scientists meet one of today's biggest challenges: building superconductors that operate at normal temperatures and pressures. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-multicomponent-hydride-advance-science-superconducting.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Tue, 05 Nov 2024 10:13:02 EST news650023979 Graphene is a simple material containing only a single layer of carbon atoms, but when two sheets of it are stacked together and offset at a slight angle, this twisted bilayer material produces numerous intriguing effects, notably superconductivity. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-revealing-superconducting-limit-bilayer-graphene.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:48:04 EST news649946882 Patience and complexity are the hallmarks of fundamental scientific research. Work at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science takes time. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-cool-journey-center-earth-superconducting.html Superconductivity Mon, 28 Oct 2024 09:42:03 EDT news649327321 High-temperature superconductivity is one of the great mysteries of modern physics: Some materials conduct electrical current without any resistance—but only at very low temperatures. Finding a material that remains superconducting even at room temperature would spark a technological revolution. People all over the world are therefore working on a better, more comprehensive understanding of such materials. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-superconductivity-mystery-fermi-arcs.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Thu, 24 Oct 2024 10:35:03 EDT news648984901 For the first time since the discovery of the material MnBi2Te4 (MBT), researchers at the University of Twente have successfully made it behave like a superconductor. This marks an important step in understanding MBT and is significant for future technologies, such as new methods of information processing and quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-superconductivity-insights-quantum-material-mnbi8322te8324.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Wed, 23 Oct 2024 13:59:02 EDT news648910741 By combining comprehensive high-pressure measurements and first-principles calculations, a research group has discovered the pressure-induced unusual evolution of superconductivity (SC) and exotic interplay between SC and charge-density-wave (CDW) order in a natural bulk van der Waals heterostructure. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-unveil-pressure-tuned-superconductivity-natural.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Tue, 15 Oct 2024 14:57:03 EDT news648223022 A new study has uncovered important behavior in the flow of electric current through quantum superconductors, potentially advancing the development of future technologies like quantum computing. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-physicists-uncover-behavior-quantum-superconductors.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Mon, 14 Oct 2024 12:47:39 EDT news648128853 Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin, University of Maryland and NIST, Google AI, and Abu Dhabi set out to robustly estimate the free Hamiltonian parameters of bosonic excitations in a superconducting quantum simulator. The protocols they developed, outlined in a paper published in Nature Communications, could contribute to the realization of highly precise quantum simulations that reach beyond the limits of classical computers. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-protocols-hamiltonian-parameters-superconducting-quantum.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Sun, 13 Oct 2024 09:00:01 EDT news647859743 Recent findings of signatures of high-temperature superconductivity (HTSC) with Tc ≈ 80K at pressures above 14GPa in the crystals of La3Ni2O7 have attracted tremendous research interest as a new family of HTSC. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-bulk-high-temperature-superconductivity.html Superconductivity Wed, 09 Oct 2024 15:17:44 EDT news647705860 Researchers from Berkeley Lab's Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) Division have teamed up with colleagues from Michigan State University's Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), the world's most powerful heavy-ion accelerator, to develop a new superconducting magnet based on niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) technology. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-niobium-tin-magnet-key-potential.html Superconductivity Fri, 04 Oct 2024 12:17:50 EDT news647263063 In recent years, quantum physicists and engineers have made significant strides toward the development of highly performing quantum computing systems. Realizing a quantum advantage over classical computing systems and enabling the stable operation of quantum devices, however, will require the development of new building blocks for these devices and other aspects underlying their correct functioning. https://phys.org/news/2024-10-subtle-current-phase-potential-stable.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Fri, 04 Oct 2024 06:30:01 EDT news647183544 MIT physicists and colleagues have created a new material with unusual superconducting and metallic properties, thanks to wavy layers of atoms only billionths of a meter thick that repeat themselves over and over to create a macroscopic sample that can be manipulated by hand. The large size of the sample makes it much easier to explore its quantum behavior, or interactions at the atomic scale that give rise to its properties. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-material-wavy-layers-atoms-unusual.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:52:03 EDT news645983521 By cleverly applying a computational technique, scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the "pseudogap," a long-standing puzzle in quantum physics with close ties to superconductivity. The discovery, presented in Science, will help scientists in their quest for room-temperature superconductivity, a holy grail of condensed matter physics that would enable lossless power transmission, faster MRI machines and superfast levitating trains. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-mysteries-bizarre-pseudogap-quantum-physics.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:55:04 EDT news645976501 A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter (MPSD) in Hamburg, Germany, and Brookhaven National Laboratory in the United States has demonstrated a new way to study disorder in superconductors using terahertz pulses of light. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-team-terahertz-pulses-superconducting-disorder.html Superconductivity Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:01:03 EDT news645699661 A collaborative research team has identified the world's first multiple Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in a single vortex of the superconducting topological crystalline insulator SnTe and exploited crystal symmetry to control the coupling between the MZMs. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-physics-multiple-majorana-modes-superconducting.html Superconductivity Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:06:03 EDT news644155561 Materials that exhibit superconducting properties at high temperatures, known as high-temperature superconductors, have been the focus of numerous recent studies, as they can be used to develop new technologies that perform well at higher temperatures. Although high-temperature superconductivity has been widely investigated, its underlying physics is not yet fully understood. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-uncovers-broken-mirror-symmetry-fermi.html Superconductivity Tue, 27 Aug 2024 08:50:01 EDT news643898322 Topological materials are materials that have unusual properties that arise because their wavefunction—the physical law guiding the electrons—is knotted or twisted. Where the topological material meets the surrounding space, the wavefunction must unwind. To accommodate this abrupt change, the electrons at the edge of the material must behave differently than they do in the main bulk of the material. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-superconductivity-edge-supercurrents.html Superconductivity Mon, 26 Aug 2024 09:42:31 EDT news643884149 A multi-institutional team of scientists in the United States, led by physicist Peng Wei at the University of California, Riverside, has developed a new superconductor material that could potentially be used in quantum computing and be a candidate "topological superconductor." https://phys.org/news/2024-08-unconventional-interface-superconductor-benefit-quantum.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Fri, 23 Aug 2024 14:00:02 EDT news643621261 A superconductivity theory proposed by a Würzburg physics team has been validated in an international experiment that showed Cooper pairs display wave-like distribution in Kagome metals. The finding will enable new technological applications such as superconducting diodes. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-validation-superconductor-theory-cooper-pairs.html Condensed Matter Superconductivity Fri, 23 Aug 2024 08:56:08 EDT news643622160 Dark states are quantum states in which a system does not interact with external fields, such as light (i.e., photons) or electromagnetic fields. These states, which generally occur due to interferences between the pathways through which a system interacts with an external field, are undetectable using spectroscopic techniques. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-uncovers-condensed-dark-states-quantum.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Thu, 22 Aug 2024 08:10:01 EDT news643366915 For the past century since their discovery, superconductors and their mysterious atomic properties have left researchers in awe. These special materials allow electricity to flow through them without any energy loss. They even allow trains to levitate. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-electron-pairs-superconductor-cuprate.html Superconductivity Thu, 15 Aug 2024 14:44:03 EDT news642951841 Our future energy may depend on high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires. This technology's ability to carry electricity without resistance at temperatures higher than those required by traditional superconductors could revolutionize the electric grid and even enable commercial nuclear fusion. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-team-fabricates-world-highest-superconducting.html Superconductivity Wed, 07 Aug 2024 05:00:01 EDT news642180800 Room-temperature superconductivity has been a century-long-held dream of scientists. Hydrogen-rich compounds at high pressures are predicted to be potential high-temperature and even room-temperature superconductors and have become one of the superconducting materials that have received much attention in recent years. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-ternary-hydrogen-rich-superconductors.html Superconductivity Thu, 01 Aug 2024 10:26:18 EDT news641726771 A team led by researchers from the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA has designed a unique material based on a conventional superconductor—that is, a substance that enables electrons to travel through it with zero resistance under certain conditions, such as extremely low temperature. The experimental material showed properties signaling its potential for use in quantum computing, a developing technology with capabilities beyond those of classical digital computers. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-layered-superconductor-coaxed-unusual-properties.html Superconductivity Quantum Physics Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:09:34 EDT news641660937 In 1911, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered the first superconductor, metallic mercury when cooled to a critical temperature of 4.2 Kelvin, where it conducts electricity without resistance. Ever since materials scientists have been on a quest to better understand the phenomenon and whether other elements and materials have higher critical temperatures that could make them useful for practical electricity transport, with the holy grail being ambient temperature. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-technique-superconductivity-high-pressures.html Superconductivity Wed, 31 Jul 2024 09:40:02 EDT news641633817 In copper-containing materials called cuprates, superconductivity competes with two properties called magnetic spin and electric charge density wave (CDW) order. These properties reveal different parts of the electrons in the superconductor. Each electron possesses spin and charge. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-high-temperature-superconductivity-closer-theory.html Superconductivity Tue, 30 Jul 2024 07:17:40 EDT news641542657 Superconductivity is a fascinating phenomenon, which allows a material to sustain an electrical current without any loss. This collective quantum behavior of matter only appears in certain conductors at temperatures far below ambient. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-meissner-effect-optically-driven-superconductor.html Superconductivity Thu, 11 Jul 2024 13:46:03 EDT news639924361 Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity with zero resistance when cooled to a certain temperature, called the critical temperature. They have applications in many fields, including power grids, maglev trains, and medical imaging. High-temperature superconductors, which have critical temperatures higher than normal superconductors have significant potential for advancing these technologies. However, the mechanisms behind their superconductivity remain unclear. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-superconductivity-high-temperature-copper-oxide.html Superconductivity Thu, 11 Jul 2024 11:17:04 EDT news639915422