A New Look at "Strange Metals"

Bühler-Paschen in her lab Photo: Luisa Puiu / TU Wien, free to download and use 1/3 images Photo: Luisa Puiu / TU Wien, free to download and use - For years, a new synthesis method has been developed at TU Wien (Vienna) to unlock the secrets of "strange metals". Now a breakthrough has been achieved. The results have been published in "Science". Superconductors allow electrical current to flow without any resistance - but only below a certain critical temperature. Many materials have to be cooled down to almost absolute zero, while some materials keep their superconducting properties up to much higher temperatures. How this "high-temperature superconductivity" works and how it is possible to develop new materials that are superconductors even at normal room temperature is still one of the great mysteries of modern physics. The key to success could be research on "strange metals".