Resistance-free electronic devices?
© Brookhaven National Laboratory
Superconductor–insulator transition in La2 − xSrxCuO4 at the pair quantum resistance.
Like atomic-level bricklayers, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the group of Prof. Davor Pavuna (LPMC - Laboratory of Nanostructures and Novel Electronic Materials) have used a precise atom-by-atom layering technique to fabricate an ultrathin transistor-like field effect device to study the conditions that turn insulating materials into high-temperature superconductors. The technical break-through, which is described in the latest issue of Nature, is already leading to advances in understanding high-temperature superconductivity, and could also accelerate the development of resistance-free electronic devices.
A. T. Bollinger et al., Nature 472, 458–460 (28 April 2011) doi:10.1038/nature09998