Superconducting properties and materials articles from across Nature Portfolio

Understanding vortex pinning in high-temperature superconducting materials is crucial to optimizing their properties. This Technical Review analyses the impact of growth method on vortex microstructure.

The microscopic mechanism of superconducting pairing in hole-doped cuprates is still debated. Here, using state-of-the-art numerical techniques, the authors examine the properties of pairs of holes in a model relevant to cuprates revealing two types of bound states involving light and heavy hole pairs.

Liu et al. theoretically study maximally-twisted homo-bilayers, such as 45^∘-twisted bilayer cuprates and 30^∘-twisted bilayer graphene. Through renormalization group and Monte-Carlo calculations, the authors reveal the presence of charge-4e superconductivity and chiral-metal phases in the phase diagram.

Ultra-narrow quantum Hall Josephson junctions defined in encapsulated graphene nanoribbons exhibit a chiral supercurrent, visible up to 8  T.

The recent discovery of superconductivity in the nickelates provides another angle to investigate this phenomenon in the high-T_c cuprates and hopefully help solve the mechanism of their unconventional superconductivity. Here, the authors report an increase in T_c for Pr_0.8Sr_0.2NiO₂ where strain from the underlying LSAT substrate plays a possible role, supporting simulations also reveal the contributing role Ni and O orbitals hybridisation play in the unconventional pairing.

By stacking few-layer WSe₂ in proximity to twisted double bilayer graphene, researchers report solid evidence of superconductivity.

Efficient superconducting diodes can be designed according to established physics. However, emerging concepts must be united with known mechanisms in order to unlock functionality in rectification and frequency conversion.

A trilayer copper oxide superconductor, which exhibits the highest superconducting critical temperature as a function of the number of copper–oxygen planes, is shown to have unusual doped hole distribution and interaction between the planes.

Claims of a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor recently kicked up a storm on social media. As the dust settles, we take stock of what this experience can teach us.

A real qubit is not an isolated unitary quantum system but is subject to noise from its environment. An experiment has now turned this interaction on its head, controlling the environment using the qubit itself.

Hydrides are promising for harnessing high-temperature superconductivity, albeit with the need of extreme pressures. New experimental protocols establish a magnetic route to detect and study superconductivity compatible with high-pressure devices.