High-Tc superconductors 'could be the future of clinical laboratory IT solutions'

Superconductors with a high transition temperature (Tc) - such as the relatively recently discovered cuprates - could represent the building blocks of future clinical laboratory IT solutions and long-distance power networks.

By operating with very small resistance, superconductors can help to transmit data or power a long way with little attenuation.

However, they have historically required materials to be cooled very close to absolute zero, at 0 Kelvin or -273 degrees C.

Now scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified fluctuations in cuprate semiconductors that disappear at around 15 K above Tc.

Based on their terahertz spectroscopy analysis, they believe the key to the conductivity of the materials lies in the coherence of electron pairs, which is lost as the cuprates become non-conductive at higher temperatures.

Research at Brookhaven National Laboratory is intended to solve national problems with technology that can be used in a commercial environment - which could see any outcomes applied in clinical laboratory IT solutions as well as at the federal level.