MIT Physicists Discover "Magic-Angle" Trilayer Graphene May be a Rare, Magnet-Proof Superconductor

upstart writes:

MIT Physicists Discover Magic-Angle" Trilayer Graphene May Be a Rare, Magnet-Proof Superconductor:

Superconducting materials are defined by their super-efficient ability to conduct electricity without losing energy. When exposed to an electric current, electrons in a superconductor couple up in Cooper pairs" that then travel through the material without resistance, like passengers on an express train.

In a vast majority of superconductors, these passenger pairs have opposite spins, with one electron spinning up, and the other down - a configuration known as a spin-singlet."[*] These pairs happily speed through a superconductor, except under high magnetic fields, which can shift the energy of each electron in opposite directions, pulling the pair apart. In this way, and through mechanisms, high magnetic fields can derail superconductivity in conventional spin-singlet superconductors.

[...] But there exists a handful of exotic superconductors that are impervious to magnetic fields, up to very large strengths. These materials superconduct through pairs of electrons with the same spin - a property known as spin-triplet."[**] When exposed to high magnetic fields, the energy of both electrons in a Cooper pair shift in the same direction, in a way that they are not pulled apart but continue superconducting unperturbed, regardless of the magnetic field strength.

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