Charge-density-wave instability competes with superconductivity

In combination with prior observations of a large gap in the spin excitation spectrum, new research indicate an incipient charge-density-wave instability competes with superconductivity.

Armed with this knowledge, scientists can start to design new materials that will bring superconductors out of the cold (room temperature superconductors) and into large-scale real world applications.

Researchers from the Canadian Light Source, University of Waterloo, and the University of British Columbia, used no less than four synchrotron facilities worldwide in order to confirm their results. A synchrotron, like Saskatoon’s CLS, where some of the experiments were performed, is a football-field-sized source of brilliant light that enables scientists to study the microstructure and chemical properties of materials.

Dr. Feizhou He observes a sample at the Canadian Light Source beamline where the superconductor data was gathered

Science – Long-Range Incommensurate Charge Fluctuations in (Y,Nd)Ba2Cu3O6+x

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