As reported by sciencedaily, the guys over at Brookhaven National Laboratory have found a new 2-D superconductor that operates at high temperatures (which is superconductor lingo for stuff warmer then 77°Kelvin (-196°C)). The researchers claim that this discovery may well shed light on the physics behind high-temp superconductors. The picture to the left shows a magnet being levitated above a superconducting material.

And why exactly is this something that we should care about? Well superconductors are in general normal conductors, that when cooled down sufficiently, offer no resistance to electric flow. This means that there is no loss of energy to creating heat, which happens in all normal conductors. So if all conductors were superconductors, we’d save quite a lot of energy, not to mention my favorite perk, silent computers, AKA no more burning your junk (there would be no heat produced so no need for fans). (thanks for the tip Alex!)

The first superconductors ever made worked at EXTREMELY low temperatures, as in a few Kelvin. To get that far down you both use liquid nitrogen (which is about 77°K (-197°C)), and then you add in some liquid Helium (about 4.2°K) to take it all the way down to the required temperature. Now liquid helium is quite expensive, so although this was very cool, it was clear it was not practical to use in almost anything due to high costs.

One fine day though, they discovered a material that would superconduct at 92°K, which is quite significant because it meant they could cool it using liquid nitrogen, which costs about as much as milk (seriously). Main problem about these high-temperature superconductors is, that there is no theory as to how they work! This means that they cannot predict what materials will superconduct at high temperatures, and that it is largely trial and error. The holy grail is obviously finding a material that would superconduct at room temperature, but we’re quite a way off, as the world record is currently 138°K. It should also be noted that most high-temp superconductors are not just normal conductors (as in metals) at low temperature, for example the 138°K world-title holder is a ceramic (with various other stuff mixed in).

Although mainstream usage of superconductors are not yet feasible, and probably won’t be until they find one at room temp, the current “high-temp” superconductors are already in use in quite a few places in the world, click here for a pretty comprehensive list.