Scientists in search of explanation of high-temperature superconductivity

Science may be a step closer to solving one of the outstanding mysteries of solid state physics after an international team of researchers achieved atomic-scale imaging of the magnetic structure in the parent compound of an unconventional superconductor.

Superconductors are extraordinary materials which under certain conditions, usually very low temperatures, can conduct electricity without any energy losses. Although superconductivity was first observed over 100 years ago, science still can't explain exactly why some materials behave this way.

The search for an explanation for this so-called "high temperature" superconductivity and a means of making superconductors work at room temperature is considered the Holy Grail of condensed matter physics. Lossless power transmission would revolutionise mankind's use of energy.

Now a team of researchers, led by Dr Peter Wahl of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, has shed new light on the behaviour of high-temperature superconductors, discovered around 30 years ago. Unlike conventional superconductors which only function at incredibly low temperatures, high temperature superconductors work around about or above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen or minus 196°C. Still very cold – but boiling hot in the strange world of superconductivity.