The material has potential applications in superconducting circuits for next-generation industrial electronics. Researchers used the Advanced Photon Source to test the rare properties of this material, potentially paving the way for more efficient large-scale computing.

As industrial computing needs increase, the size and power consumption of the hardware required to meet these needs also increases. A possible solution to this dilemma may be found in superconducting materials that can exponentially reduce energy consumption. Imagine a giant data center filled with servers 24/7, cooled to near absolute zero, providing massive computing with incredible energy efficiency.

Groundbreaking development in superconductivity research

Physicists from the University of Washington and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have made a discovery that could help create a more efficient future. Researchers have discovered a superconducting material that is uniquely sensitive to external stimuli, allowing its superconducting properties to be enhanced or suppressed at will. This opens up new possibilities for energy-efficient switching superconducting circuits. The article was published on: Science Developments.

Superconductivity is a quantum mechanical phase of matter in which an electric current can flow through a material of zero resistance. This ensures the ideal efficiency of electronic transport. Superconductors are used in the most powerful electromagnets for advanced technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging, particle accelerators, fusion reactors, and even lift trains. Superconductors have also found applications in quantum computing.

Challenges and innovations in superconductor technologies

Modern electronics use semiconductor transistors to quickly switch electrical currents on and off, creating binary ones and zeros used in information processing. Because these currents must pass through materials with limited electrical resistance, some of the energy is wasted as heat. Therefore, your computer gets hot over time. The low temperatures required for superconductivity (typically above 200 degrees Fahrenheit below zero) make these materials impractical for portable devices. But they can be useful on an industrial scale.

A research team led by Shua Sanchez of the University of Washington has studied an unusual superconducting material with extraordinary tunability. This crystal consists of flat sheets of ferromagnetic europium atoms sandwiched between superconducting iron, cobalt, and arsenic atoms. According to Sánchez, it is extremely rare for ferromagnetism and superconductivity to coexist in nature because one phase usually dominates the other.

“This is actually a very disturbing situation for the superconducting layers because the magnetic fields of the surrounding europium atoms penetrate these layers,” Sanchez said. “This weakens superconductivity and leads to limited electrical resistance.”

Advanced Research Methods and Findings

To understand the interaction of these phases, Sanchez spent a year in residence at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), the Argonne Department of Economic Sciences’ user-designated Science Office, one of the nation’s leading X-ray light sources. . During his stay here, he was supported by the postgraduate research program of the Ministry of National Education. Working with physicists at APS beamlines 4-ID and 6-ID, Sanchez developed a comprehensive characterization platform that can probe the microscopic details of complex materials.

Using a combination of X-ray techniques, Sanchez and his colleagues were able to show that applying a magnetic field to the crystal could redirect europium’s magnetic field lines to run parallel to the superconducting layers. This removes their hostile effects and causes a state of zero resistance. Using electrical measurements and X-ray scattering techniques, scientists confirmed that they could control the behavior of the material.

“The nature of the individual parameters that control superconductivity is quite exciting because a complete method can be designed to control this effect,” said Argonne’s Philip Ryan, co-author of the paper. “This potential brings to mind some exciting ideas, including the ability to tune field sensitivity for quantum devices.”

The team then applied stress to the crystal and obtained interesting results. They found that superconductivity could either be increased enough to overcome magnetism even without redirection of the field, or it could be weakened so much that magnetic redirection could no longer create a state of zero resistance. This additional parameter allows you to control and adjust the material’s sensitivity to magnetism.

“This material is exciting because there is tight competition between multiple phases, and by applying a small voltage or magnetic field you can boost one phase into another to turn superconductivity on and off,” Sanchez said. said. “The vast majority of superconductors cannot be replaced that easily.”