High-temperature Superconductivity: A new universal law

Superconductors are remarkable materials: when cooled below a critical temperature close to absolute zero (-273.15 °C), their resistivity to an electric current disappears, thereby enabling the transportation of electricity with no loss of energy. For others, known as “high-temperature” superconductors, the critical temperature is near -100 °C. However, high-temperature superconductivity has remained an enigma for physicists ever since its discovery in 1986.

After 30 years of research, a team from the “Circuits et Matériaux Quantiques” international associated laboratory,1 led by researchers from the CNRS and Université de Sherbrooke, has just discovered a universal law for the electronic properties of high-temperature superconductors. By exposing a sample to an intense magnetic field—in order to weaken its superconductivity and reveal its underlying properties—the scientists were able to measure the variations of electrical resistivity up to -263 °C, and to deduce a predictive model that can be applied to multiple families of high-temperature superconductors. The results, which are published in Nature Physics on November 19, 2018, offer an invaluable tool to the scientific community for shedding light on these superconductors.

• 1Involving researchers from the Laboratoire national des champs magnétiques intenses (CNRS), the Service de physique de l’état condensé (CEA/CNRS), the Laboratoire de physique des solides (CNRS/Université Paris-Sud), and l'Institut quantique de l'Université de Sherbrooke (Canada).