Rice-led team discovers iron compounds’ common mechanisms
may help find new superconductors
The decadeslong effort to create practical superconductors
moved a step forward with the discovery at Rice University that two distinctly
different iron-based compounds share common mechanisms for moving electrons.
Samples from two classes of iron-based superconductors,
pnictides and chalcogenides, employ similar coupling between electrons in their
superconducting state, said Rice physicist Qimiao Si. Understanding that
mechanism may help researchers find even better superconductors, he said.