Research report 2014 - Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter

Superconductivity at room temperature: A dream becomes reality for a split second

Authors
Först, M.; Mankowsky, R.; Kaiser, S.; Hu, W.; Cavalleri, A.
Departments
Max-Planck-Institut für Struktur und Dynamik der Materie, Hamburg
Summary
Superconductors carry an electric current without resistance only at low temperatures. Now, for the first time, scientists have turned a ceramic crystal into a superconductor even at room temperature, using an ultrashort mid-infrared flash of light. The superconducting state survived only for a couple of picoseconds (millionth of a microsecond), and the researchers found that this light-induced state is based on certain distortions of the material’s crystal lattice. These findings may aid the quest for higher temperature superconductors and pave the way for novel applications.

For the full text, see the German version.

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