SBQMI researchers have captured an unprecedented glimpse into the birth of high-temperature superconductivity in cuprates, settling a scientific debate and uncovering new avenues to explore the potential of other unconventional superconductors.

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For this study, researchers studied cuprate unconventional superconductors, materials that begin to transition to superconductivity at a record high temperature of about -170 C. Most conventional superconductors require very low temperatures around absolute zero or -273 C. Superconductors display astonishing physical properties – such as magnetic levitation or lossless power transmission – that could lead to new technologies.

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Scientists have long debated the key ingredient that enables the cuprates to become superconducting at high temperatures: Does superconductivity emerge when electrons bind together in pairs, known as Cooper pairs, or when those pairs establish macroscopic phase coherence?

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