Magnetic fields are generally known to destroy superconductivity in a material. However, in exceptional cases they can lead to what is known as “reentrant superconductivity”— where superconductivity disappears as expected but then unexpectedly returns when the magnetic field is increased further. This behavior is sometimes seen in bulk, three-dimensional materials, but now, in a study published in Science Advances, a team led by the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) in Japan has seen the phenomenon in a very thin conducting layer at the boundary between two insulating oxide materials. Because oxide interfaces can be precisely engineered and controlled, the discovery provides a new platform for investigating unconventional forms of superconductivity and the quantum mechanisms that allow it to survive under unusual conditions.
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