MAGNETIC GLUE FOUND IN SUPERCONDUCTORS

Main Menu | News By Date | News By Supplier | News By Category | About Us

MAGNETIC GLUE FOUND IN SUPERCONDUCTORS
12 April 2007 - University of Bristol

A breakthrough has been made by a team of scientists, led by Professor Stephen Hayden from the University of Bristol, in understanding how high temperature superconductors work. Their results, announced today in Nature, suggest they have found the ‘binding glue’ that allows superconductivity to happen.

High temperature superconductors are ceramic materials that can conduct electricity across huge distances without losing any energy. They are relatively cheap to make and have enormous potential in many areas of technology, but there is still controversy over what actually causes the superconductivity.

The structure of superconductors consists of many layers of atoms stacked on top of each other. Electrons easily move along the different layers, but rarely across them. Superconductivity occurs when electrons in the metal atoms pair up to form so-called “Cooper pairs”. They do this when there is an attraction or ‘glue’ that can hold them together. Formation of these Cooper pairs results in superconductivity, but what holds the pairs together?

Professor Hayden said: ‘Our results suggest that the glue may be due to the very weak magnetism of the electrons in the copper atoms of the superconductor. Thus the Cooper pairs are bound together by a sort of magnetic glue.’

The team from the University of Bristol (UK) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US), observed evidence of what might be the binding glue using MAPS, the latest spectrometer at the ISIS facility, CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire (UK).

This discovery will enhance our fundamental understanding of superconductivity. It is currently used in applications such as satellite and mobile phone transmission, and has enormous potential in a wide range of other technologies.

http://www.bris.ac.uk

About: University of Bristol
The University College of Bristol opened in 1876, after six years of discussions and controversy, in a bid to bring university culture to the provinces. It was the first college in the country to admit men and women on an equal footing.

The University’s Research and Enterprise Development (RED) division was launched in 2000 to stimulate and support an entrepreneurial culture and encourage the growth of technology-based business.

2003 saw the completion of the Dorothy Hodgkin building, named after the University’s fifth Chancellor. The £18 million building is dedicated to research in neuroendocrinology. 2003 also saw the opening of the University’s £5 million Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health.

Work on a new, state-of-the-art engineering building is due to be completed in early 2004. The £20 million BLADE project (Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering) will bring together the Engineering Faculty’s six departments to establish Europe’s most advanced dynamics engineering research facilities.

More News:
  • For April 2007
  • From University of Bristol
  • For Superconductors