SLAC topics

Superconductivity RSS feed

Superconductivity is the property of certain materials to conduct electricity without energy loss when they are cooled below a critical temperature.

DOE explains...superconductivity

LCLS-II cooldown illustration.

News Feature

The finding could help future efforts to design superconductors that work at higher temperatures.

This is a graphic drawing that represents how electrons lock together in a superconducting material.
News Brief

Harold Hwang and Tony Heinz were among 124 newly elected members.

Harold Hwang and Tony Heinz
News Brief

Election to the academy honors exceptional scholars who discover and advance knowledge and who apply knowledge to the problems of society.

News Brief

The American Physical Society recognized the SLAC and Stanford physicist for decades of groundbreaking work studying the strange behavior of electrons at the interfaces...

Photo - Harold Hwang
Press Release

With up to a million X-ray flashes per second, 8,000 times more than its predecessor, it transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale...

LCLS-II first light
News Feature

It irons out wrinkles in thin films of these novel superconductors so scientists can see their true nature for the first time. 

Colorized electron microscope images reveal defects in the atomic structure of a nickelate superconductor (right) compared to a defect-free structure (right)
News Feature

Waves of magnetic excitation sweep through this exciting new material whether it’s in superconducting mode or not – another possible clue to how unconventional...

A brightly colored top is seen spinning between two layers of gray, purple and red spheres representing atoms in a nickel oxide superconductor.
News Feature

Researchers discover they contain a phase of quantum matter, known as charge density waves, that’s common in other unconventional superconductors. In other ways, though...

Artist's illustration shows quantum states called superconductivity and charge density waves atop an atomic lattice of balls and sticks
News Feature

Scientists discover superconductivity and charge density waves are intrinsically interconnected at the nanoscopic level, a new understanding that could help lead to the next...

A beam of light lands on a series of squiggly lines. Where the beam lands, the lines are straight.
News Feature

Scientists discover that triggering superconductivity with a flash of light involves the same fundamental physics that are at work in the more stable states...

Exposing the material to a magnetic field
News Feature

The results cap 15 years of detective work aimed at understanding how these materials transition into a superconducting state where they can conduct electricity...

Conceptual illlustration showing a beam of light entering from the right and hitting a material, ejecting a sphere representing an electron
News Feature

Spawned by the spins of electrons in magnetic materials, these tiny whirlpools behave like independent particles and could be the future of computing. Experiments...

Illustration of skyrmions -- little whirlpools of magnetism formed by the spins of atoms.