High speed maglev trains use superconductors to make the train hover above the track (Image from Shutterstock, cyo bo)
Shining lasers at superconductors can make them work at higher temperatures, suggests new findings from an international team of scientists including the University of Bath. Superconductors conduct electricity without power loss and produce strong magnetic fields, used in medical scanners, super-fast electronic circuits and in Maglev trains with superconducting magnets to allow train levitation over tracks, eliminating friction.
Currently superconductors only work at very low temperatures, requiring liquid nitrogen or helium to maintain their temperature. The team shone a laser at a material made up from potassium atoms and carbon atoms arranged in bucky ball structures and found it to still be superconducting at more than 100K (-170C). The researchers hope these findings could lead to new routes and insights into making better superconductors that work at higher temperatures.
Dr Stephen Clark, theoretical physicist explained: “Superconductors currently only work at very low temperatures, requiring expensive cryogenics—if we can design materials that superconduct at higher temperatures, or even room temperature, it would eliminate the need for cooling, which would make them less expensive and more practical to use in a variety of applications. “But having taken this first step, my colleagues and I will be trying to find other superconductors that can be coerced to work at even higher temperatures, possibly even at room temperature.
“Whilst this is a small piece of a very large puzzle, our findings provide a new pathway for engineering and controlling superconductivity that might help stimulate future breakthroughs.”
http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2016/02/08/superconductor/
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