Latest Superconductivity Stories

A better understanding of material could bring 'endless applications'MIT physicists have taken a step toward understanding the puzzling nature of high-temperature superconductors, materials that conduct electricity with no resistance at temperatures well above absolute zero.If superconductors could be made to work at temperatures as high as room temperature, they could have potentially limitless applications. But first, scientists need to learn much more about how such materials work.Using a...

An international research team has discovered that a magnetic field can interact with the electrons in a superconductor in ways never before observed. Andrea D. Bianchi, the lead researcher from the Université de Montréal, explains in the January 11 edition of Science magazine what he discovered in an exceptional compound of metals "“ a combination of cobalt, indium and a rare earth "“ that loses its resistance when cooled to just a couple of degrees above absolute zero."This...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- An experimental mystery -- the origin of the insulating state in a class of materials known as doped Mott insulators -- has been solved by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The solution helps explain the bizarre behavior of doped Mott insulators, such as high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors.In a paper published in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Physical Review Letters, physics professor Philip Phillips and graduate student Ting-Pong...

Superconductors are materials with no electrical resistance that are used to make strong magnets and must be kept extremely cold--otherwise, they lose their superconducting abilities. Even the "high-temperature" superconductors discovered in the 1980s must be kept at around -300°F. The search for superconductors that function at higher temperatures has taken a step forward with new findings from University of Pittsburgh professor of physics and astronomy Yadin Y. Goldschmidt and...

ITHACA, N.Y. -- With an advanced imaging technique and a savvy strategy, researchers at Cornell University's Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics (LAASP) have shown how adding charge-carrying atoms like oxygen to a superconductor can increase the material's ability to conduct electricity overall and -- paradoxically -- to decrease it in localized spots. The discovery, published in the Aug. 12 issue of Science, could lead to the eventual development of more effective superconductors....

SANTA CRUZ, CA - Predicting the magnetic behavior of metallic compounds is a surprisingly difficult problem for theoretical physicists. While the properties of a common refrigerator magnet are not a great mystery, certain materials exhibit magnetic properties that do not fit within existing theories of magnetism. One such material inspired a recent theoretical breakthrough by physicists at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In a paper scheduled for publication in the August 26 issue of...

June 22, 2005Physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created the first example of a high-temperature superfluid: a new state of matter in which the atoms in a gas can move with no friction or slowing down whatsoever.Reported in the June 23 issue of journal Nature, the work is closely related to the superconductivity of electrons in metals. According to Wolfgang Ketterle, the Nobel laureate who heads the MIT group, observations of superfluids may help solve lingering...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- MIT scientists have brought a supercool end to a heated race among physicists: They have become the first to create a new type of matter, a gas of atoms that shows high-temperature superfluidity. Their work, to be reported in the June 23 issue of Nature, is closely related to the superconductivity of electrons in metals. Observations of superfluids may help solve lingering questions about high-temperature superconductivity, which has widespread applications for magnets,...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - MIT scientists have brought a supercool end to a heated race among physicists: They have become the first to create a new type of matter, a gas of atoms that shows high-temperature superfluidity. Their work, to be reported in the June 23 issue of Nature, is closely related to the superconductivity of electrons in metals. Observations of superfluids may help solve lingering questions about high-temperature superconductivity, which has widespread applications for magnets,...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- By using DNA molecules as scaffolds, scientists have created superconducting nanodevices that demonstrate a new type of quantum interference and could be used to measure magnetic fields and map regions of superconductivity. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have fabricated and studied nanostructures consisting of pairs of suspended superconducting wires as tiny as 3 to 4 molecular diameters (typically 5 to 15 nanometers) in width. The team...