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Superconductors have the ability to conduct electric current without resistance or energy lossesalthough certain conditions must be met. Electrons can spin in circles effortlessly in a unidirectional current without offering resistance.
This is possible thanks to what is known as “edge state”. Science has tried to replicate these conditions in different materials, but it remains a challenge for researchers. A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published in the journal Nature Physics shows that it could be closer now.
MIT research uses a cloud of ultracold sodium atoms that replaces electrons. The “edge state” effect is possible thanks to similar physical properties, although the duration of these conditions is the second problem.
“In our system, the same physics occurs in atoms, but in milliseconds and microns,” according to physicist Martin Zwierlein who participated in the research. The ultracold atoms can move throughout the system and scientists collect data along the way.
A 2D surface, a laser and a ring of light
The materials have a 2D surface that uses electrons to move between previously established placesas predicted by quantum physics. The phenomenon is common in nature, but it is not easy to replicate in a laboratory.
The research team has to relate the properties of the materials to the speed and direction of the flow. All of this must be done in a matter of femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second), so studying the properties of electrons and their movement is practically impossible.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has used about a million sodium atoms exposed to lasers in an ultracold state. The researchers They manipulated the system so that they moved quickly around the laser in circles as if they were under the force of a magnetic fieldthen they used a ring light to simulate the edge of the material.
The atoms move in a straight line when they collide with the ring and move in a single direction, as do electrons in the edge state. Researchers have gone further and obstacles have been placed in its path, but the sodium atoms have not deviated.
“There is no friction, there is no deceleration and there is no leakage or dispersion of atoms in the rest of the system. There is just a beautiful, controlled flow,” says Zwierlein. The data collected is not too far from the initial forecasts, although it is still early for this technology to replace the electrons in the superconductors.
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Tags: studies
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