Physicists listened to electrical noise to crack a superconductor mystery
Summary
Physicists have studied electrical noise to better understand how copper-based materials can conduct electricity without resistance at relatively high temperatures. Although these cuprate superconductors were discovered decades ago, researchers have long debated the exact physical mechanisms behind their unique capabilities.
Superconductors carry electricity without resistance, but most only work a few degrees above absolute zero. In the late 1980s, copper-based materials called cuprates were found to superconduct at higher temperatures—reachable with affordable liquid nitrogen. Yet nearly 40 years later, physicists still don't agree on why. In a recent Science study, a team of physicists led by Milan Allan of Ludwig…
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