Physicists find clues to the origins of high-temperature superconductivity

Ever since cuprate (copper-containing) superconductors were first discovered in 1986, they have greatly puzzled researchers. Cuprate superconductors have critical superconducting temperatures—the point at which their electrical resistance drops to zero—of up to 138 K at ambient pressure, which far exceeds the critical temperatures of other superconductors and is even higher than what is thought possible based on theory.

Now in a new study, researchers have discovered the existence of a positive feedback loop that greatly enhances the superconductivity of cuprates and may shed light on the origins of high-temperature cuprate superconductivity—considered one of the most important open questions in physics.

The researchers, Haoxiang Li et al., at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, have published a paper on their experimental ARPES (Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy) results on high-temperature cuprate superconductors in a recent issue of Nature Communications.