Quantum 'Traffic Jam' Revealed: Findings May Help Get Current Flowing At Higher Temperatures
Thursday, August 28, 2008 - 23:21
in Physics & Chemistry
Scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators have uncovered the first experimental evidence for why the transition temperature of high-temperature superconductors cannot simply be elevated by increasing the electrons' binding energy. The research demonstrates how, as electron-pair binding energy increases, the electrons' tendency to get caught in a quantum mechanical "traffic jam" overwhelms the interactions needed for the material to act as a superconductor -- a freely flowing fluid of electron pairs.