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Condensed matter physics

Superconductivity at the double

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

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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.

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Figure 1: Increasing the carrier density.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Kosmas Prassides

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  1. Kosmas Prassides
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Correspondence to Kosmas Prassides.

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

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