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Nature 450, 492-493 (22 November 2007) | doi:10.1038/450492a; Published online 21 November 2007

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High-temperature superconductivity: Schizophrenic electrons

Christian Pfleiderer1 & Rudi Hackl2

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The split personality of the conduction electrons in one high-temperature superconductor might indicate that periodic modulations of their spin and charge density are a general feature of these mystifying materials.

In simple metals, conduction electrons undergo well-understood phase transitions: they can become superconducting or ferromagnetic, or acquire periodic modulations of their spin and charge density. But just over 20 years ago, high-temperature superconductors were discovered, a class of materials in which the conduction electrons behave almost entirely outside these traditional models of order.

  1. Christian Pfleiderer is at the Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik E21, Technische Universität München, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
    Email: christian.pfleiderer@frm2.tum.de
  2. Hackl is at the Walther-Meissner-Institute of the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, D-85748 Garching, Germany.
    Email: hackl@wmi.badw.de

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