6 ms·

A material found to carry current in a way never before observed

64 points by neo4sure 8y ago

tshanmu 8y ago
No observations here, still ;-)
captain_perl 8y ago
> discovered a behavior in materials called cuprates that suggests they carry current in a way entirely different from conventional metals such as copper. Well, cuprates are copper-based molecules, so a better wording would be "they carry current in a way entirely different from metallic copper or other metals."
- ahakki 8y ago
  No, that would be as if I said Water is less flammable than Hydrogen and you had replied: "But Water is just Oxygenated Hydrogen!!"
  - captain_perl 8y ago
    No, you're missing a level of subtlety. The author made it sound like there was no relationship between cuprates and copper, but in fact cuprate molecules include copper atoms. In fact, cuprates are a new family of superconductors because of their copper content. Your metaphor doesn't add any information, since water is less flammable than hydrogen.
rqwrqe 8y ago
So what applications this will have ?
- sverige 8y ago
  If they can figure out how to make circuits with a material that operates as a superconductor at practical operating temperatures, it would have wide application. But I don't think that's what the article is saying. More of an interesting step on a possible path to that desired outcome.
- m-p-3 8y ago
  It this leads to room temperature superconductivity, it could allow MRI scanners to operate without the need of expensive helium-based coolant system. And this could also mean that if they can use it in PCB, you could have a CPU that doesn't release heat. The implication of heatless CPUs and less need for cooling would have a tremendous impact in datacenters.
  - daveguy 8y ago
    As far as I can tell room temp SC would be more beneficial to power transmission than anything. The energy could be zipped along from wherever it is generated most efficiently with little loss. Successful room temp SC wouldn't be able to produce heatless CPUs because the transistor mechanism has to work by essentially a changing resistance level. So the billions of transistors themselves would still give off heat, but not the wires connecting them. I'm not sure what percentage heat comes from the transistors vs conduits between those transistors. Significant boost in efficiency / reduction in heat, but not heatless.
    - ericpauley 8y ago
      In general the power consumption is in the transistors, and related more directly to junction capacitance, voltage, and frequency than to resistance.
  - slededit 8y ago
    The vast majority of CPU power dissipation is from dumping gate capacitance to ground - not the resistance of the interconnects. It's akin to filling (very small) buckets of water and dumping them back out billions of times a second. Zero resistance interconnects would allow us to charge those gates faster resulting higher clock speeds though.
excalibur 8y ago
> Scientists at the Florida State University-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory have discovered a behavior in materials called cuprates that suggests they carry current in a way entirely different from conventional metals such as copper. > The research, published today in the journal Science, adds new meaning to the materials' moniker, "strange metals." > Although scientists understand the physics of LTS, they haven't yet cracked the nut of HTS materials. Exactly how the electrons travel through these materials remains the biggest mystery in the field. The biggest mystery in the field... of science?
- smaddox 8y ago
  In the field of condensed matter physics.
- a1369209993 8y ago
  > The biggest mystery in the field... of science? The biggest mystery in the magnetic field at their laboratory. /s They probably meant something like the field of HTS material physics.
ChuckMcM 8y ago
For reasons of my own, I think this will turn out to be a pretty important clue as to the nature of super conductivity. Something I wonder is if resistivity would go down in response to a high electric field.
- tinco 8y ago
  If you already know what's going on, then please let us know already. For reasons of my own I think the nature of super conductivity is going to be an important part of future technological developments!
  - ChuckMcM 8y ago
    Heh, if knew what was going on I would be building some Tony Stark level gadgets already :-), but what I have been observing are the number of papers being produced around new observations or interpretations of the interaction between the electromagnetic forces and quantum effects. I have also observed over the years that, like debugging complex problems, once experimental physicists can repeat an effect that is not well understood, the underlying physics is more likely to be revealed. I wrote Dr. Shekhter and he said an updated paper would be available on Arxiv shortly.(arxiv:1705.05806) so I'm looking for that. "High" temperature superconductors have been interesting for a while. My thought is that if there is a way to understand this current conductivity using quantum electrodynamics it could open a way to understanding how to create super conductors that operate at room temperature.
peter_d_sherman 8y ago
Excerpt: "The fact that the linear-in-field resistivity mirrored so elegantly the previously known linear-in-temperature resistivity of LSCO is highly significant, Shekhter said. "Usually when you see such things, that means that it's a very simple principle behind it," he said.

64 points by neo4sure 8y ago

No observations here, still ;-)

> discovered a behavior in materials called cuprates that suggests they carry current in a way entirely different from conventional metals such as copper. Well, cuprates are copper-based molecules, so a better wording would be "they carry current in a way entirely different from metallic copper or other metals."

ahakki 8y ago
No, that would be as if I said Water is less flammable than Hydrogen and you had replied: "But Water is just Oxygenated Hydrogen!!"
- captain_perl 8y ago
  No, you're missing a level of subtlety. The author made it sound like there was no relationship between cuprates and copper, but in fact cuprate molecules include copper atoms. In fact, cuprates are a new family of superconductors because of their copper content. Your metaphor doesn't add any information, since water is less flammable than hydrogen.

rqwrqe 8y ago

So what applications this will have ?

sverige 8y ago
If they can figure out how to make circuits with a material that operates as a superconductor at practical operating temperatures, it would have wide application. But I don't think that's what the article is saying. More of an interesting step on a possible path to that desired outcome.
m-p-3 8y ago
It this leads to room temperature superconductivity, it could allow MRI scanners to operate without the need of expensive helium-based coolant system. And this could also mean that if they can use it in PCB, you could have a CPU that doesn't release heat. The implication of heatless CPUs and less need for cooling would have a tremendous impact in datacenters.
- daveguy 8y ago
  As far as I can tell room temp SC would be more beneficial to power transmission than anything. The energy could be zipped along from wherever it is generated most efficiently with little loss. Successful room temp SC wouldn't be able to produce heatless CPUs because the transistor mechanism has to work by essentially a changing resistance level. So the billions of transistors themselves would still give off heat, but not the wires connecting them. I'm not sure what percentage heat comes from the transistors vs conduits between those transistors. Significant boost in efficiency / reduction in heat, but not heatless.
  - ericpauley 8y ago
    In general the power consumption is in the transistors, and related more directly to junction capacitance, voltage, and frequency than to resistance.
- slededit 8y ago
  The vast majority of CPU power dissipation is from dumping gate capacitance to ground - not the resistance of the interconnects. It's akin to filling (very small) buckets of water and dumping them back out billions of times a second. Zero resistance interconnects would allow us to charge those gates faster resulting higher clock speeds though.

excalibur 8y ago

> Scientists at the Florida State University-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory have discovered a behavior in materials called cuprates that suggests they carry current in a way entirely different from conventional metals such as copper. > The research, published today in the journal Science, adds new meaning to the materials' moniker, "strange metals." > Although scientists understand the physics of LTS, they haven't yet cracked the nut of HTS materials. Exactly how the electrons travel through these materials remains the biggest mystery in the field. The biggest mystery in the field... of science?

smaddox 8y ago
In the field of condensed matter physics.
a1369209993 8y ago
> The biggest mystery in the field... of science? The biggest mystery in the magnetic field at their laboratory. /s They probably meant something like the field of HTS material physics.

ChuckMcM 8y ago

For reasons of my own, I think this will turn out to be a pretty important clue as to the nature of super conductivity. Something I wonder is if resistivity would go down in response to a high electric field.

tinco 8y ago
If you already know what's going on, then please let us know already. For reasons of my own I think the nature of super conductivity is going to be an important part of future technological developments!
- ChuckMcM 8y ago
  Heh, if knew what was going on I would be building some Tony Stark level gadgets already :-), but what I have been observing are the number of papers being produced around new observations or interpretations of the interaction between the electromagnetic forces and quantum effects. I have also observed over the years that, like debugging complex problems, once experimental physicists can repeat an effect that is not well understood, the underlying physics is more likely to be revealed. I wrote Dr. Shekhter and he said an updated paper would be available on Arxiv shortly.(arxiv:1705.05806) so I'm looking for that. "High" temperature superconductors have been interesting for a while. My thought is that if there is a way to understand this current conductivity using quantum electrodynamics it could open a way to understanding how to create super conductors that operate at room temperature.

peter_d_sherman 8y ago

Excerpt: "The fact that the linear-in-field resistivity mirrored so elegantly the previously known linear-in-temperature resistivity of LSCO is highly significant, Shekhter said. "Usually when you see such things, that means that it's a very simple principle behind it," he said.