Hang onto your superconductors everyone. Scientists from the University of Chicago have discovered a new type of matter, where they may be able to conduct energy and electricity at 100% efficiency, without losing heat or friction.
Superconductors have long been known for their ability to conduct electricity seemingly forever without losing energy. However, it wasn’t until just a few years ago that scientists were able to create a similar material known as exciton condensate, which also demonstrates properties for conducting energy with almost zero loss.
Professor of Chemistry and James Frank Institute Expert in Molecular Electronic Structure, David Mazziotti co-authored the study. Here he talks about his team’s findings:
We started out trying to answer a really basic question, to see if it was even possible—we thought these two properties might be incompatible in one material. But to our surprise, we found the two states actually become entangled at a quantum level, and so reinforce each other.
The team’s breakthrough findings were recently published in Physical Review B. They are currently experimenting and testing this prediction using real-world applications. If successful this could prove to be extremely useful for technological applications.
Exciton condensates and superconductors both remain a mystery in some sense to scientists because it’s not fully understood exactly how they work. One thing they do know is they both involve quantum physics.
Professor Mazziotti’s team specializes in exploring the structures and properties of chemicals and materials using computation. University of Chicago graduate student LeeAnn Sager wondered how the two states could be generated within the same material, so she started uploading different combinations into a computer. “We scanned through many possibilities, and then to our surprise, found a region where both states could exist together,” said Sager.
They discovered that within the right configuration, the two states become entangled, challenging conventional thinking that the two states are unrelated. Instead, they become intangibly linked together in a quantum phenomenon, which would open new possibilities for dual exciton and fermion pair condensates.
So, what does this all mean? “This implies that such condensates may be realizable in novel materials, such as a double layer of superconductors,” Sager said.
This discovery could lead to the energy which is normally lost from power lines, engines, and machinery to be captured instead. Mazziotti explains:
“In many ways, this is the most important question of the 21st century—how to generate and move energy with minimal loss.”
The third member of the team and co-author of the paper, Shiva Safaei, is a postdoctoral researcher at the university. She sums up how exciting this discovery is and its potential heading into the future:
Being able to combine superconductivity and exciton condensates would be amazing for lots of applications—electronics, spintronics, quantum computing. Though this is [the] first step, it looks extremely promising.
