First report of superconductivity in a nickel oxide material

2019-09-04
Scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have made the first nickel oxide material that shows clear signs of superconductivity -- the ability to transmit electrical current with no loss.The first in a potential new family of unconventional superconductors, its similarity to the cuprates raises hopes that it can be made to superconduct at relatively high temperatures. But the new material seems different from the cuprates in fundamental ways -- for instance, it may not contain a type of magnetism that all the superconducting cuprates have -- and this could overturn leading theories of how these unconventional superconductors work. After more than three decades of research, no one has pinned that down.