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Superconductivity

Why the temperature is high

Nature volume 430, pages 512–513 (2004)Cite this article

According to a new empirical law, the transition temperature to superconductivity is high in copper oxides because their metallic states are as viscous as is permitted by the laws of quantum physics.

Dissipation is obvious in the human environment. The phenomenon describes how useful energy is eventually converted into microscopic disorder, which is perceived by us as a rise in temperature. But viewed from the fundamental perspective of quantum physics, dissipation is not at all obvious. A striking example is the superconductor — a quantum state of matter in which electrical currents flow without friction. Heat is the enemy of this state and above a certain temperature, the transition temperature, dissipation takes over again. Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer's 1957 explanation of superconductivity (in terms of paired electrons) seemed to be one of the great triumphs of twentieth-century physics — until the discovery in 1986 of a new class of superconductors with very high transition temperatures1. Despite years of intense research, these high-temperature copper-oxide superconductors are still on the list of the great mysteries of physics2.

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Figure 1: Planckian dissipation and high transition temperatures.

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  1. Instituut Lorentz for Theoretical Physics, Leiden University, PO Box 9504, RA Leiden, 2300, The Netherlands

    Jan Zaanen

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  1. Jan Zaanen
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Zaanen, J. Why the temperature is high. Nature 430, 512–513 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/430512a

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