Scientists
announced the first observation of a dynamic vortex Mott transition, which
experimentally
connects the
worlds of quantum mechanics and classical physics and could shed light on the
poorly understood
world of non-equilibrium physics. Image courtesy Valerii Vinokur/Science;
click to view larger.
(September 12, 2015) An
international team of researchers, including the MESA+ Institute for
Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, announced today in Science
the observation of a dynamic Mott transition in a superconductor.
The discovery experimentally connects the worlds of
classical and quantum mechanics and illuminates the mysterious nature of the
Mott transition. It also could shed light on non-equilibrium physics, which is
poorly understood but governs most of what occurs in our world. The finding may
also represent a step towards more efficient electronics based on the Mott
transition.
Since its foundations were laid in the early part of the
20th century, scientists have been trying to reconcile quantum mechanics with
the rules of classical or Newtonian physics (like how you describe the path of
an apple thrown into the air—or dropped from a tree). Physicists have made
strides in linking the two approaches, but experiments that connect the two are
still few and far between; physics phenomena are usually classified as either
quantum or classical, but not both.
One system that unites the two is found in superconductors,
certain materials that conduct electricity perfectly when cooled to very low
temperatures. Magnetic fields penetrate the superconducting material in the
form of tiny filaments called vortices, which control the electronic and
magnetic properties of the materials.