A puzzling form of superconductivity that arises only under strong magnetic fields has been mapped and explained by a research team that includes Andriy Nevidomskyy, professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University. Their findings, published in Science, describe how uranium ditelluride (UTe₂) develops a superconducting halo when exposed to intense magnetic fields.
Traditionally, scientists have viewed magnetic fields as harmful to superconductors. Even moderate magnetic fields typically weaken superconductivity, while stronger ones can destroy it once a known critical threshold is exceeded.
However, UTe₂ challenged these expectations. In 2019, researchers discovered that the material could maintain superconductivity in magnetic fields hundreds of times stronger than those tolerated by conventional superconductors.
“When I first saw the experimental data, I was stunned,” said Nevidomskyy, a member of the Rice Advanced Materials Institute and the Rice Center for Quantum Materials. “The superconductivity was first suppressed by the magnetic field as expected but then reemerged in higher fields and only for what appeared to be a narrow field direction. There was no immediate explanation for this puzzling behavior.”
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