https://phys.org/physics-news/superconductivity/ en-us The latest news on superconductivity Topological phases are unusual states of matter that give rise to properties protected by a material's overall structure (i.e., "topology"), as opposed to microscopic details. These phases are of great interest for the development of quantum technologies, as they can yield desirable electronic properties that are robust against defects and disturbances. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-topological-states-emerge-quantum-hall.html Superconductivity Fri, 29 May 2026 07:00:01 EDT news698933871 A growing number of quantum engineers worldwide have been trying to realize large-scale quantum networks, which consist of several connected quantum computers or devices that share information with each other. The successful realization of these networks could potentially pave the way for the realization of new high-speed and secure communication systems, or even of a quantum version of the internet. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-quantum-teleportation-microwave-states-temperatures.html Superconductivity Wed, 27 May 2026 10:00:01 EDT news698939510 The mechanism of high-temperature (TC) superconductivity is a key challenge in condensed matter physics. Recently, Chinese scientists made significant progress in the study of high-TC nickelate superconductors. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-nickelate-reveals-nodeless-gap-key.html Condensed Matter Fri, 22 May 2026 16:40:02 EDT news698673481 Diamond is extremely valuable to science and technology not for its sparkle but for its extreme hardness, high thermal conductivity, transparency to a large fraction of the light spectrum, and a host of other exceptional properties. Two decades ago, scientists discovered another advantage: under the right conditions, diamond can become a superconductor—allowing electricity to flow through it with zero resistance. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-superconducting-diamond-uncover-path-multi.html Superconductivity Fri, 22 May 2026 14:46:44 EDT news698679858 Vortices in superconductors have so far been considered a disruption, as they can impair the superconducting properties. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have proved in experiments that magnetic vortices can be used as controllable quantum systems in certain materials. This means that a previously unwanted phenomenon is becoming a potential resource in quantum technologies, opening up new avenues for the development of quantum computers, highly sensitive sensor systems, and innovative approaches in materials research. These results are published in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-superconducting-vortices-moonlight-qubits-disruption.html Superconductivity Fri, 22 May 2026 09:20:01 EDT news698658817 Quantum computers could someday solve pressing problems that are too convoluted for classical computers, such as modeling complex molecular interactions to streamline drug discovery and materials development. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-quantum-circuit-exposes-warping.html Superconductivity Tue, 12 May 2026 12:40:04 EDT news697799460 In a process analogous to how solids melt into liquids, the electrons in many different metals form crystal-like patterns that can deform and melt, opening new pathways for neuromorphic computing and superconductors, University of Michigan Engineering researchers have found. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-quantum-metallurgy-electron-crystals-deform.html Superconductivity Thu, 07 May 2026 16:20:02 EDT news697389121 An international research team, including scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), has achieved a methodological breakthrough in the study of superhydrides, a promising class of superconductors. For the first time, the team succeeded in analyzing lanthanum superhydrides under extreme pressure using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-magnetic-super-lenses-window-high.html Condensed Matter Wed, 06 May 2026 19:40:03 EDT news697296601 Superconductors are materials that can conduct electricity with a resistance of zero. In so-called conventional superconductors, this occurs at low temperatures when electrons become bound into pairs, known as Cooper pairs. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-bilayer-graphene-superconducting-high-dielectric.html Condensed Matter Wed, 06 May 2026 16:30:01 EDT news697210079 A research team led by Professor Denver Li Danfeng, Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Education) of the College of Science and Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK), has achieved a significant advance in superconducting materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-magnetic-fields-revive-superconductivity-nickelates.html Condensed Matter Tue, 05 May 2026 11:40:09 EDT news697194061 With a carefully designed experiment and a handful of tin atoms, University of Tennessee, Knoxville's physicists have found a long-sought form of superconductivity, taking one more step toward creating custom quantum materials. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pattern-exposes-chiral-superconductivity-sought.html Superconductivity Wed, 29 Apr 2026 18:00:03 EDT news696691381 A research team led by Prof. Hao Ning of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Anhui University and the University of Science and Technology of China, has identified two distinct types of unusual low-energy quasiparticle states in the kagome superconductor CsV3Sb5 using single-atom impurities as local "quantum probes" combined with scanning tunneling spectroscopy. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-exotic-quasiparticle-states-kagome-superconductor.html Superconductivity Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news696681301 Discovered in 2019, the material known as nickelates has intrigued researchers for its potential to become a superconductor at elevated temperatures—a property that could significantly advance such fields as quantum science and energy transmission. However, it's a very unstable material and difficult to work with. But the lab of Professor Charles Ahn has developed a method that could enhance superconductivity in these materials. The results are published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fragile-nickelates-superconductivity.html Superconductivity Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:40:01 EDT news696514141 A new method developed at LMU overcomes fundamental resolution limits and may provide insights into high-temperature superconductivity. Physicist Dr. Sebastian Paeckel has developed a method that can be used to calculate spectral functions of complex quantum systems much more precisely than was possible previously. His approach reconstructs precise energy spectra without requiring lengthy calculations. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-quantum-simulations-bypass-resolution-limits.html Superconductivity Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:00:08 EDT news696079081 Superconductors, materials that can conduct electricity with a resistance of zero, have proved to be highly promising for the development of quantum technologies, medical imaging devices, particle accelerators and other advanced technologies. These materials can be divided into two broad categories: conventional and unconventional superconductors. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-alternating-atomic-layers-enable-rare.html Superconductivity Tue, 21 Apr 2026 11:20:01 EDT news695985154 Last year, tungsten diselenide (WSe2) had its magic moment. Two independent research groups discovered "magic angles" at which two atom-thin layers of the unique semiconductor, when twisted relative to one another into what's known as a moire pattern, can superconduct electricity. Cory Dean and his colleagues at Columbia documented superconductivity at a 5° twist angle; upstate at Cornell, Jie Shan and Kin Fai Mak's team saw it at around 3.5°. Until then, graphene was the only other moire material capable of the feat. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-range-magic-angles-superconductivity-2d.html Superconductivity Sun, 19 Apr 2026 08:00:04 EDT news695572951 Superconductivity is a state of matter characterized by an electrical resistance of zero, typically at very low temperatures. Past studies have found that in various materials, this unique state is accompanied by unusual electron arrangements. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-link-metallicity-superconductivity-uncovered-trilayer.html Condensed Matter Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:00:04 EDT news695304845 Thin films might not come up in conversation every day, but they are all around us. Take the metallic plastic films of chip bags, for example, or the anti-reflective coatings on eyeglasses. Even the coatings on pills that make them easier to swallow are thin films. Depositing extremely thin layers of materials in a consistent and uniform way is also crucial to the production of semiconductors, which are the foundation of modern electronics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-laser-method-kelvin-thin-synthesis.html Superconductivity Thu, 16 Apr 2026 16:20:02 EDT news695573468 For the first time, scientists have directly imaged the quantum process underlying superconductivity, a phenomenon in which paired electrons cause electric current to flow without resistance at sufficiently low temperatures. The results weren't quite what they expected. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-scientists-capture-superconductivity-pairs-revealing.html Condensed Matter Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:50:01 EDT news695487661 Superconductors—materials that can conduct electricity without energy loss—are crucial for next-generation high-efficiency, ultrafast electronics. However, most superconductors share a critical limitation: they lose their superconducting properties in strong magnetic fields. In contrast, a class of superconductors containing heavy elements can sustain an unusual type of superconductivity in magnetic fields beyond the conventional limit. Now, new research has demonstrated that this limitation can be overcome by sandwiching atomically thin films of a lightweight element called gallium between two other materials to engineer quantum interactions at the interfaces between the layers. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-unusual-superconductivity-lightweight-element.html Superconductivity Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:00:03 EDT news695304894 Researchers have discovered evidence that superconductivity can be controlled by influencing the surrounding environment, a finding that may lead to more efficient electronics down the road, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Physics. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tiny-synthetic-diamond-superconductivity-route.html Condensed Matter Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:40:05 EDT news695304421 A team of researchers has identified atomic distortions that may be linked with high-temperature superconductivity in a promising class of nickel-based materials, offering new insight into how next-generation superconductors might be designed. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-atomic-distortions-reveal-clues-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:00:04 EDT news694354637 Superconductivity—the ability of a material to conduct electricity without any energy loss to heat—enables highly efficient, ultra-fast electronics essential for advanced technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines, particle accelerators and, potentially, quantum computers. New research has now revealed that iron telluride (FeTe), a compound composed of the chemical elements iron and tellurium and long thought to be an ordinary magnetic metal, is in fact a superconductor. The researchers found that hidden excess iron atoms induce the material's magnetism, and removing these atoms allows electricity to flow with zero resistance. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-superconductivity-material-thought-magnetic.html Condensed Matter Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news694263182 Quantum computers, systems that process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects, could outperform classical computers on some advanced tasks. These systems rely on qubits, the fundamental units of quantum information, that become linked via an effect known as quantum entanglement and share a unified quantum state. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dual-rail-superconducting-qubits-generate.html Superconductivity Thu, 26 Mar 2026 08:10:01 EDT news693652193 Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with an electrical resistance of zero. Superconductivity is generally observed when materials are cooled down to extremely low temperatures. In some cases, however, like in so-called high-temperature superconductors, this property emerges at higher temperatures. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-spinel-crystal-unusual-pressure-superconductivity.html Condensed Matter Tue, 24 Mar 2026 08:00:07 EDT news693479340 A tiny crystal chip which uses terahertz radiation to see clearly through a wide range of materials could find applications in health care, biological research, and security screening. Researchers from Scotland and Japan have developed a lightweight superconducting chip, which they say could unlock the full potential of terahertz imaging technologies and lead to the development of more powerful and portable devices. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-superconducting-chip-generates-tunable-terahertz.html Optics & Photonics Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:10:07 EDT news693495781 Quantum computers, computing systems that process information using quantum mechanical effects, could outperform classical computers on some computational tasks. These computers rely on qubits, the basic units of quantum information, which can exist in multiple states (0, 1 or both simultaneously), due to quantum effects known as superposition and entanglement. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-superconducting-quantum-processor-significantly-wiring.html Superconductivity Mon, 23 Mar 2026 09:30:01 EDT news693234189 Researchers have proposed that a newly identified class of magnetic materials could extend the zero-resistance currents of superconductors to electron spins. Publishing their calculations in Physical Review X, Kyle Monkman and colleagues at the University of British Columbia propose how "altermagnets" could enable persistent spin currents to flow without dissipation. If confirmed experimentally, the effect could provide a powerful new platform for spintronics, where information is encoded in spin rather than electric charge. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-superconducting-altermagnets-energy-loss.html Condensed Matter Sat, 21 Mar 2026 12:00:02 EDT news693045824 For more than a century, condensed matter physics has grappled with one of its greatest unsolved challenges: how to build superconductors that operate at room temperature and transmit electricity with no loss. Now, in a paper published in Nature, a team of Harvard physicists has reported new insights into why one promising superconductor has yielded mysteriously uneven results. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-window-superconductivity-reimagining-classic-tool.html Condensed Matter Fri, 20 Mar 2026 19:00:01 EDT news693228425 Quantum communication systems are emerging solutions to transmit information between devices in a network leveraging quantum mechanical phenomena, such as entanglement. Entanglement is a quantum effect that entails a link between two or more particles that share a unified state even at a distance, so that measuring one instantly affects the other. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-microwave-quantum-network-resilience-disturbances.html Superconductivity Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:40:02 EDT news692963544