Untangling three exotic states in a high-temperature superconductor (IMAGE)

DOE/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Untangling three exotic states in a high-temperature superconductor

Caption

Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used an improved X-ray technique to explore exotic states of matter in an unconventional superconductor that conducts electricity with 100% efficiency at relatively high temperatures. They glimpsed the signature of a state known as pair density waves (PDW), and confirmed that it intertwines with another phase known as charge density wave (CDW) stripes - wavelike patterns of higher and lower electron density in the material. CDWs, in turn, are created when spin density waves (SDWs) emerge and intertwine.

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Jun-Sik Lee/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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