A crystal that scientists thought had the same structure throughout is actually a patchwork of two subtly different arrangements of atoms. The boundaries between those regions are hundreds of times wider than expected, so broad that they behave almost like a structure in their own right rather than a simple dividing line.
The material belongs to a family called cuprates, copper-based superconductors that can carry electricity without resistance at unusually high temperatures for superconductivity, although those temperatures are still very cold. High-temperature superconductivity underpins research into future power grids, medical scanners, and quantum computers. Its promise also includes magnets far more powerful than those possible today.
To examine the crystal’s interior, researchers in the University of Warwick’s Department of Chemistry worked with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France. They used scanning 3D X-ray diffraction, a technique that works somewhat like a medical CT scan but maps the arrangement of atoms inside a crystal. This allowed the team to build a three-dimensional picture deep within the material for the first time, revealing structural differences throughout its bulk. The study was published in Physical Review Letters.
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