One of the greatest mysteries of experimental physics is how so-called high-temperature superconducting materials work. Despite their name, high-temperature superconductors—materials that carry electrical current with no resistance—operate at chilly temperatures less than minus 135 degrees Celsius. They can be used to make superefficient power cables, medical MRIs, particle accelerators, and other devices. Cracking the mystery of how these materials actually work could lead to superconducting devices that operate at room temperatures—and could revolutionize electrical devices, including laptops and phones.
In a new paper in the journal Nature Physics, researchers at Caltech have at last solved one piece of this enduring puzzle. They have confirmed that a transitional phase of matter called the pseudogap—one that occurs before these materials are cooled down to become superconducting—represents a distinct state of matter, with properties very different from those of the superconducting state itself.
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