quantum criticality at zero magnetic field tagged posts

This microscopic closeup shows a small sample of ytterbium dirhodium disilicide, one of the most-studied “heavy fermion” composites. The scale bar in the center of the screen is one millimeter wide. Credit: Marc Tippmann/Technical University of Munich

Physicists have made a surprising discovery that the arrangement of atomic nuclei spins helps bring about superconductivity in ytterbium dirhodium disilicide, one of the most-studied materials in a class of quantum critical compounds known as ‘heavy fermions.’ It provides further evidence that unconventional superconductivity arises from “quantum criticality.”

“There is already compelling evidence that unconventional superconductivity is linked in both copper-based and iron-based high-temperature superconductors to quantum fluctuations that a...