Understanding Quantum Matter In Superconductors

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory researchers discovered that nickel oxide superconductors contain a phase of quantum matter, known as charge density waves, that’s common in other unconventional superconductors. The new study shows that nickel oxide superconductors, which conduct electricity with no loss at higher temperatures than conventional superconductors do, contain a type of quantum matter called charge density waves, or CDWs, that can accompany superconductivity. In other ways, though, they’re surprisingly unique. Unconventional…