X-rays reveal another feature of high-temperature superconductivity
Sunday, November 24, 2013 - 13:30
in Physics & Chemistry
Classical and high-temperature superconductors differ hugely in the value of the critical temperatures at which they lose all electrical resistance. Scientists have now used powerful X-rays to establish another big difference: high-temperature superconductivity cannot be accounted for by the mechanism that leads to conventional superconductivity. As this mechanism called "electron-phonon coupling" contributes only marginally to the loss of electrical resistance, other scenarios must now be developed to explain high-temperature superconductivity. The results are published on November 24, 2013 in Nature Physics.