Associate professor Mazhar Ali and his research group at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) have discovered one-way superconductivity without m

Breakthrough Discovery of the One-Way Superconductor – Thought To Be Impossible

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2022-05-13 20:00:15

Associate professor Mazhar Ali and his research group at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) have discovered one-way superconductivity without magnetic fields, something that was thought to be impossible ever since its discovery in 1911 – until now. The discovery, published in the journal Nature, makes use of 2D quantum materials and paves the way toward superconducting computing. Superconductors can make electronics hundreds of times faster, all with zero energy loss.

Throughout the twentieth century, many scientists, including Nobel laureates, struggled over the nature of superconductivity, which was discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Kamerlingh Onnes. In superconductors, a current flows across a wire with no resistance, which means inhibiting this current or even blocking it is hardly possible – let alone getting the current to flow only one way and not the other. The fact that Ali’s group was able to make superconducting one-directional – which is required for computing – is remarkable: it’s like inventing a special type of ice that has zero friction one way but insurmountable friction the other.

The advantages of applying superconductors to electronics are twofold. Superconductors can make electronics hundreds of times faster, and incorporating superconductors into our daily lives would make IT much more eco-friendly: if you spun a superconducting wire from here to the moon, it would transport the energy without any loss. For instance, the use of superconductors instead of regular semiconductors might save up to 10% of all western energy reserves according to NWO.