Transmitting electricity without losing any energy may sound impossible, yet this is precisely the promise of superconductivity. For nearly 40 years, scientists have been working to understand materials that exhibit this remarkable property at relatively high temperatures. Unlocking their secrets could one day help make power grids more efficient, enhance medical technologies, and support the development of quantum computing.
Among the most promising of these materials are cuprates, a family of copper-based compounds discovered in 1986. The breakthrough was so significant that its discoverers, Bednorz and Müller, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics the following year. Despite decades of research, however, the mechanisms that allow cuprates to become superconducting remain poorly understood.
At the heart of this puzzle lies the pseudogap, a mysterious quantum state whose exact role continues to spark debate. Some scientists believe it helps superconductivity emerge, while others see it as a competing phenomenon.
That question is precisely what a team led by INRS Professor Fabio Boschini, Canada Research Chair in Quantum Materials’ Dynamics and recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, set out to investigate. In a study published in Nature Physics, the researchers provide new evidence suggesting that the pseudogap and superconductivity compete with one another rather than work together.
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