Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature
superconductivity, many questions remain, but an Oak Ridge National Laboratory
team is providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.
Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, examines
the role of chemical dopants, which are essential to creating high-temperature
superconductors – materials that conduct electricity without resistance. The
role of dopants in superconductors is particularly mysterious as they introduce
non-uniformity and disorder into the crystal structure, which increases
resistivity in non-superconducting materials.