New Superconductor

[Maico Shark]

AUSTIN, Texas — A superconducting sheet of lead only two atoms thick, the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created, has been developed by physicists at The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Ken Shih and colleagues report the properties of their superconducting film in the June 5 issue of Science.
Superthin Superconductor
This is a scanning tunneling microscope image of the 2-atom thick lead film. The inset is a zoomed view showing the atomic structure.

Superconductors are unique because they can maintain an electrical current indefinitely with no power source. They are used in MRI machines, particle accelerators, quantum interference devices and other applications.

The development of the thin superconducting sheets of lead lays the groundwork for future advancements in superconductor technologies.

"To be able to control this material-to shape it into new geometries-and explore what happens is very exciting," says Shih, the Jane and Roland Blumberg Professor in Physics. "My hope is that this superconductive surface will enable one to build devices and study new properties of superconductivity."

In superconductors, electrons move through the material together in pairs, called Cooper pairs.

One of the innovative properties of Shih's ultra-thin lead is that it confines the electrons to move in two dimensions, or one "quantum channel," like ballroom dancers gliding across the floor. Uniquely, the lead remains a good superconductor despite the constrained movement of the electrons through the metal.

Shih and his colleagues used advanced materials synthesis techniques to lay the two-atom thick sheet of lead atop a thin silicon surface. The lead sheets are highly uniform with no impurities.

"We can make this film, and it has perfect crystalline structure-more perfect than most thin films made of other materials," Shih says.

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[Sir Skully]

Amazing......who would of thought....lead..
Now I can have my lead armor suit, to keep out radiation...

[Maico Shark]

And 2 atoms thick !! That's sub molecular !

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by Maico Shark

And 2 atoms thick !! That's sub molecular !

I'm afraid my lead amor suit would be see through.....
I'd have to wear some really neat boxers...
But on the serious side, the more I think about Superconductors, the more my amazement.
Thanks for the reads Rick, both are interesting..

[zapionics<alt>]

yes its all a step closer to Quantum computing for the massess...

I can see it now, with Sir Skully posting about the problem of Future Update Data (FUD) accumulating on our Quantum Storage Devices (QSD's)... this is data and programs we havent actually installed yet, but due to the effects of "quantum interference" it randomly accumulates on the QSD's over time... (FUD doesnt actually damage QSD's but it does end up absorbing a lot of space-time ...)

The only annoying aspect of the technology is that strange shortcuts randomly appear on the desktop for things that dont exist yet, such as "Half Life Episode 16" and "Duke Nukem 3", etc, but due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle and other quantum related reasons clicking on them only results in the Windows 98 defrag utility running... very annoying...

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

yes its all a step closer to Quantum computing for the massess...

I can see it now, with Sir Skully posting about the problem of Future Update Data (FUD) accumulating on our Quantum Storage Devices (QSD's)... this is data and programs we havent actually installed yet, but due to the effects of "quantum interference" it randomly accumulates on the QSD's over time... (FUD doesnt actually damage QSD's but it does end up absorbing a lot of space-time ...)

The only annoying aspect of the technology is that strange shortcuts randomly appear on the desktop for things that dont exist yet, such as "Half Life Episode 16" and "Duke Nukem 3", etc, but due to the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle and other quantum related reasons clicking on them only results in the Windows 98 defrag utility running... very annoying...