Latest Superconductivity Stories

A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin.Dr. Ken Shih and colleagues report the properties of their superconducting film in the June 5 issue of Science.Superconductors are unique because they can maintain an electrical current indefinitely with no power source. They are used in MRI machines, particle accelerators, quantum interference devices and other...

U.S. scientists have determined certain squids can detect light through a symbiotic organ, not just through their eyes. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers said the light-emitting organ some squids use in camouflaging themselves to avoid being seen by predators also detects light. That, the scientists said, is a finding that might lead to insights into the mechanisms of controlling and perceiving light. Professor Margaret McFall-Ngai, who led the study, said the light organ, which...

A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has demonstrated that, counter to classical Newtonian mechanics, an entire collection of superconducting electrons in an ultrathin superconducting wire is able to "tunnel" as a pack from a state with a higher electrical current to one with a notably lower current, providing more evidence of the phenomenon of macroscopic quantum tunneling.Physics professors Alexey Bezryadin and Paul Goldbart led the team, with graduate student Mitrabhanu Sahu...

Of the 92 naturally occurring elements, add another to the list of those that are superconductors.James S. Schilling, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Mathew Debessai "” his doctoral student at the time "” discovered that europium becomes superconducting at 1.8 K (-456 °F) and 80 GPa (790,000 atmospheres) of pressure, making it the 53rd known elemental superconductor and the 23rd at high pressure.Debessai, who receives his...

Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory have experimentally demonstrated that the superconductivity mechanism in the recently-discovered iron-arsenide superconductors is unique compared to all other known classes of superconductors. These findings "“ combined with iron-arsenide's potential good ability to carry current due to their low anisotropy "“ may open a door to exciting possible applications in zero-resistance power transmission.The research, led by Ames...

Exquisitely sensitive microwave amplifier increases nano-scale measurement accuracy; could lead to quantum computing breakthroughsIn the weird world of quantum mechanics, sub-atomic particles such as electrons and photons behave in strange ways that make no sense on the human scale. One of the counter-intuitive concepts of quantum mechanics is the uncertainty principle, which says that you can't pin a particle down.That means at any given moment, you can't know exactly both a particle's...

Though a year has passed since the discovery of a new family of high-temperature superconductors, a viable explanation for the iron-based materials' unusual properties remains elusive. But a team of scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) may be close to the answer.The team has found strong evidence that magnetism is a pivotal factor governing the physical properties of iron pnictides, a group of materials that conduct electricity without resistance at...

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and Durham University have developed a new material to further understanding of how superconductors could be used to transmit electricity to built-up areas and reduce global energy losses.The team has produced a material from a football-shaped molecule, called carbon60, to demonstrate how a superconductor "“ an element, compound or alloy that does not oppose the steady passage of an electric current "“ could work at temperatures suitable for...

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have proposed theoretical models to explain the normal magnetic properties in iron-based superconductors. This research was published in the December 21, 2008 issue of Nature Physics. Their research builds on earlier research they conducted proposing a theoretical model for superconductivity in newly discovered iron-based superconductors. That earlier research was published in Physical Review Letters.To set the stage for the NRL researchers'...

Theory makes predictions about latest high-temp superconductorAn international team of physicists from the United States and China this week offered a new theory to both explain and predict the complex quantum behavior of a new class of high-temperature superconductors.The findings, which are available online this week from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are about materials known as iron pnictides (pronounced NIK-tides). The discovery of high-temperature...