November 18, 2013

A Superconductor-Surrogate Earns Its Stripes


Berkeley Lab Study Reveals Origins of an Exotic Phase of Matter

Understanding superconductivity – whereby certain materials can conduct electricity without any loss of energy – has proved to be one of the most persistent problems in modern physics. Scientists have struggled for decades to develop a cohesive theory of superconductivity, largely spurred by the game-changing prospect of creating a superconductor that works at room temperature, but it has proved to be a tremendous tangle of complex physics.