All posts tagged: Superconductivity

Researchers may have observed triplet superconductivity – the holy grail in quantum computing

Researchers may have observed triplet superconductivity – the holy grail in quantum computing

Published by Jenni Sidey

A wafer-thin layer of rust, formed naturally in air, helped researchers spot a behavior many physicists have chased for decades. That oxide, hematite (α-Fe2O3), appeared on the top layer of a stacked film device and “pinned” a magnetic layer in place. With that pinning, the team could flip the device between two magnetic states and watch what happened to superconductivity. What they saw was small in size but big in meaning: the transition temperature shifted the “wrong” way for an ordinary superconductor. Professor Jacob Linder at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), working at the QuSpin research centre, says the results point toward a long-sought state called triplet superconductivity. “We think we may have observed a triplet superconductor,” he said. The work, done with experimental collaborators in Italy, was published in Physical Review Letters and selected as an editor’s recommendation. “One of the major challenges in quantum technology is being able to perform data operations with sufficiently high accuracy,” says Jacob Linder. (CREDIT: Per Henning, NTNU) A superconductor that carries spin Superconductors carry …

Superconductivity and magnetism can co-exist in some materials, MIT study finds

Superconductivity and magnetism can co-exist in some materials, MIT study finds

Published by Jenni Sidey

For decades, physicists taught that superconductivity and magnetism could not share the same space. One state should destroy the other. Yet in the past year, experiments in two very different materials challenged that rule. Now, theorists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they may know why. In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MIT physicists Senthil Todadri and Zhengyan Darius Shi present a theory that allows both states to coexist. Their work suggests that under special conditions, electrons can split into exotic fragments called anyons. These anyons, rather than ordinary electrons, may carry a supercurrent through a magnetic material. If confirmed, the idea would point to a new type of superconductivity. It would also revive old theories once dismissed as impossible. “Many more experiments are needed before one can declare victory,” said Senthil Todadri, the William and Emma Rogers Professor of Physics at MIT. “But this theory is very promising and shows that there can be new ways in which the phenomenon of superconductivity can arise.” A schematic depiction …