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Link found between magnetism and superconductors
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29/05/2008
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Researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have discovered that a class of iron based superconductors discovered earlier this year shares similar unusual magnetic properties with previously known high temperature superconductors based on copper oxide materials.
The work is said to emphasise an unexplained link between magnetism and high temperature superconductors.
The importance of magnetism to high temperature (HTc) superconductors is said by NIST to be remarkable because magnetism interferes strongly with conventional, low temperature superconductors, but may prove to be an integral element of HTc materials. These superconductors, it adds, may improve significantly the efficiency of electricity storage and transmission over long distances.
The researchers used neutron beams to demonstrate that, like copper oxide superconductors, the iron based HTc materials share an unusual magnetic structure with magnetically active layers interspersed with layers of nonmagnetic material.
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Author
Graham Pitcher
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Source
photo: Robert Rathe
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