Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have unveiled an extraordinary ‘demon particle’ that could revolutionize superconductors. This breakthrough discovery, detailed in a recent Nature journal publication, introduces a particle predicted by physicist David Pines nearly 70 years ago.
Unlike traditional superconductors requiring extremely low temperatures, the newly identified transparent, massless, and neutral particle has been found within strontium ruthenate, capable of manifesting irrespective of temperature.
The potential impact is significant, as current superconductors are utilized in applications like maglev trains and advanced MRI machines. This innovation could reshape the landscape by enabling superconductivity at room temperature, thereby enhancing computing systems remarkably.
Referred to as a plasmon quasiparticle, the demon particle, named after Pines, possesses unique properties. Peter Abbamonte, the lead author and a physics professor at the University, highlighted that demons’ electric neutrality enables them to avoid interacting with light—a contrast from most experimental subjects involving light and optical measurements.
The choice of strontium ruthenate (Sr2RuO4) for study stems from its resemblance to high-temperature superconductors while not being one itself. The discovery process initially encountered skepticism, as demons are not a mainstream concept. However, the researchers, including former graduate student Ali Husain, co-author of the study, gradually realized the significance of their findings.
The research team emphasizes the necessity for further exploration using alternative observation methods to comprehend the functionality of this quasiparticle fully.
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