Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Condensed matter physics

Superconductivity at the double

Nature Nanotechnology volume 6, pages 400–401 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Electrostatic doping of the transparent insulator potassium tantalate with an electric double-layer transistor has allowed superconductivity to be observed in this material for the first time.

Superconductivity has been at the forefront of condensed-matter research ever since Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovered 100 years ago that mercury completely loses its resistance to electric currents when cooled below a critical temperature. The discovery of new superconductors — which are also able to expel magnetic fields — has traditionally depended on the chemical manipulation or doping of parent materials to increase the concentration of charge carriers, or on the use of external pressure to control their lattice and electronic structures. Writing in Nature Nanotechnology, Masashi Kawasaki, Yoshihiro Iwasa and co-workers1 at Tohoku University and the University of Tokyo report a powerful experimental tool for discovering new superconductors in families of materials where conventional chemical routes have failed to do so before.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Increasing the carrier density.

References

  1. Ueno, K. et al. Nature Nanotech. 6, 408–412 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Grahame, D. C. Chem. Rev. 41, 441–501 (1947).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Panzer, M. J. & Frisbie, C. D. Adv. Mater. 20, 3177–3180 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ahn, C. H., Triscone, J. M. & Mannhart, J. Nature 424, 1015–1018 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Shimotani, H. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 082106 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Yuan, H. T. et al. Adv. Fun. Mater. 19, 1046–1053 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ueno, K. et al. Nature Mater. 7, 855–858 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ye, J. T. et al. Nature Mater. 9, 125–128 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Dhoot, A. S. et al. Adv. Mater. 22, 2529–2533 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Bollinger, A. T. et al. Nature 472, 458–460 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Sakai, A. et al. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 48, 097002 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Yamada, Y. et al. Science 332, 1065–1067 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kosmas Prassides is in the Department of Chemistry, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK,

    Kosmas Prassides

Authors
  1. Kosmas Prassides
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kosmas Prassides.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Prassides, K. Superconductivity at the double. Nature Nanotech 6, 400–401 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.104

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.104

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Find nanotechnology articles, nanomaterial data and patents all in one place. Visit Nano by Nature Research