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Condensed-matter physics

Charge topology in superconductors

Nature volume 525, pages 329–330 (2015)Cite this article

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X-ray images of cuprate superconductors reveal the fractured, defect-riddled backbone on which superconductivity develops. The results take us a step closer to understanding how supercurrent flows on small spatial scales. See Letter p.359

The quantum motion of electrons enforces a high degree of homogeneity in conventional materials such as metals and semiconductors. As a result, the electrons spread out evenly in these materials, like liquid filling a container. By contrast, nanoscale images of copper oxide (cuprate) superconductors have revealed that the materials' electrons form clumps at the surface1. On page 359 of this issue, Campi et al.2 report X-ray images of a cuprate superconductor, revealing complex patterns of electrons3 that are also scaffolded throughout the interior of the material, and on a much larger scale than has been observed before. Just like the skeleton of a coral reef, where, the greater the scale on which the reef is observed, the more complexity meets the eye, the electrons in these materials form structures full of gnarled hollows of varying size.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Erica W. Carlson is in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2036, USA.,

    Erica W. Carlson

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  1. Erica W. Carlson
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Correspondence to Erica W. Carlson.

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Carlson, E. Charge topology in superconductors. Nature 525, 329–330 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/525329a

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