superconductivity tagged posts

First direct Visualization of a Zero-field Pair Density Wave

Illustration of the superconducting material Eu-1144
In this illustration of the superconducting material Eu-1144, the blue and magenta wave shown above the crystal lattice represents how the energy level of the electron pairs (yellow spheres) spatially modulates as these electrons move through the crystal.

In the field of superconductivity—the phenomenon in which electrons can flow through a material with essentially zero resistance—the “holy grail” of discovery is a superconductor that can perform under everyday temperatures and pressures. Such a material could revolutionize modern life. But currently, even the “high-temperature” (high-Tc) superconductors that have been discovered must be kept very cold to function—too cold for most applications.

Scientists still have much to learn before room-temperature superconductivity can...

Read More

Green Information Technologies: Superconductivity meets Spintronics

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

When two superconducting regions are separated by a strip of non-superconducting material, a special quantum effect can occur, coupling both regions: The Josephson effect. If the spacer material is a half-metal ferromagnet novel implications for spintronic applications arise. An international team has now for the first time designed a material system that exhibits an unusually long-range Josephson effect: Here, regions of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7 are separated by a region of half-metallic, ferromagnetic manganite (La2/3Sr1/3MnO3) one micron wide.

With the help of magneto-transport measurements, the researchers were able to demonstrate the presence of a supercurrent circulating through the manganite — this supercurrent is arising from the superconducting co...

Read More

Electron Family Creates Previously Unknown State of Matter

A four-part electron family creates a completely new state of matter in a metal. Researchers from the Dresden-Würzburg Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat have demonstrated this unusual phenomenon for the first time worldwide.

Researchers have demonstrated a completely novel state of matter in a metal. It is created by the combination of four electrons — until now, only electron pairs were known. This discovery could lead to a new type of superconductivity, an entirely new research direction, and revolutionary technologies such as quantum sensors.

An international research team from the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat-Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter has demonstrated a completely novel state of matter in a metal...

Read More

Under Pressure, ‘Squishy’ Compound reacts in remarkable ways

As a compound of manganese sulfide is compressed in a diamond anvil cell, it undergoes dramatic transitions. In this illustration, the interaction between the manganese (Mn) atomic ions (purple circles) and disulfur (S2) molecular ions (figure 8s) increases from left to right until the overlap is significant enough to make the system metallic. (Illustration courtesy of Dean Smith, Argonne National Lab)

Remarkable things happen when a “squishy” compound of manganese and sulfide (MnS2) is compressed in a diamond anvil, say researchers from the University of Rochester and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).

“This is a new type of charge transfer mechanism, and so from a science community point of view this is very, very exciting...

Read More