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Condensed-matter physics

Vortices weave a tangled web

In high-temperature superconductors, quantized vortex filaments can be twisted up into a DNA-like double helix. An experiment is proposed to test how easily these vortex lines cut through each other.

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Figure 1: Equilibrium phase diagram for a high-temperature superconductor.

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Nelson, D. Vortices weave a tangled web. Nature 430, 839–840 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/430839a

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