🧲 Discovery of a Superconducting and Magnetic Material
A team of physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has made a groundbreaking discovery: a material that simultaneously exhibits superconducting and magnetic properties, challenging long-held assumptions that these two characteristics are mutually exclusive.
SCIENCE NEWS
Goke
5/30/2025
🧪 What Is a Chiral Superconductor?
Traditionally, superconductors and magnets were thought to be incompatible. However, the MIT team found that stacking four to five layers of graphene in a rhombohedral arrangement results in a material with extraordinary electronic properties. When cooled to just 300 millikelvins (around -273 °C), the structure becomes a superconductor, meaning it conducts electricity without resistance.
🧲 Magnetism Within Superconductivity
What's especially surprising is that the material also exhibits internal magnetic properties. By applying an external magnetic field, the rhombohedral graphene layers can toggle between two distinct superconducting states—behavior akin to that of a magnet. This suggests the material possesses an intrinsic magnetism, something rarely seen in conventional superconductors.
🔬 Future Applications and Implications
This discovery could pave the way for advances in quantum computing and next-generation electronic devices. A material that combines superconductivity and magnetism could lead to the development of more efficient systems and enable topological quantum computing—a promising approach for creating more stable and error-resistant quantum systems.
Source: Journal Nature. The article, titled "Signatures of chiral superconductivity in rhombohedral graphene"
Illustration generated with AI for educational and illustrative purposes only.