Applying intense pressure to an unusual quantum material can transform how it conducts electricity, allowing superconductivity to spread throughout its three-dimensional structure at temperatures roughly three times higher than normal. Researchers also found a sevenfold increase in the number of electrons participating in superconductivity.
The discovery comes from a team led by Zurab Guguchia at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, provide new insight into how superconductivity might be strengthened and eventually achieved under more practical conditions.
Tantalum disulfide has a simple chemical composition but a remarkably complex electronic structure. It consists of extremely thin atomic layers that behave differently as temperatures fall.
“Its chemical formula sounds very simple: for every tantalum atom there are two sulfur atoms,” says Guguchia. “But inside it is an enormously complex material with almost paradoxical properties.”
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