Superconductor with on/off switches

As industrial computing needs grow, the size and energy consumption of the relevant hardware must keep up with those demands. A solution to this dilemma could lie in superconducting materials, which reduce that energy consumption exponentially. Imagine cooling a giant data center - full of constantly running servers - down to nearly absolute zero, enabling large-scale computation with incredible energy efficiency. Researchers led by Jiun-Haw Chu , a University of Washington associate professor of physics and Clean Energy Institute researcher, and Philip Ryan, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, have made a discovery that could enable this more efficient future. In a paper published Nov. 24 in Science Advances, the team reports finding a superconducting material that is uniquely sensitive to outside stimuli, enabling the superconducting properties to be enhanced or suppressed at will. This discovery could enable new opportunities for switchable, energy-efficient superconducting circuits.