Scientists at Ames Lab discover miassite, a natural unconventional superconductor, challenging conventional wisdom.
Scientists at Ames National Laboratory have revealed the first unconventional superconductor with a chemical composition naturally found in the Earth’s crust. Named “miassite,” this mineral joins a rare league of only four natural substances capable of exhibiting superconductivity under laboratory conditions. While conventional superconductors are well understood, they typically have a critical temperature much below room temperature, closer to absolute zero.
However, Miassite is challenging the notion that unconventional superconductivity is solely a result of synthesized materials. “Intuitively, you think that this is something which is produced deliberately during a focused search, and it cannot possibly exist in nature,” noted Dr. Prozorov in aIntegral to this breakthrough was the meticulous work of Dr. Paul Canfield, a distinguished expert in crystalline materials at Iowa State University and Ames Lab.
“Contrary to the nature of the pure elements, we have been mastering the use of mixtures of these elements that allow for low temperature growth of crystals with minimal vapor pressure. It’s like finding a hidden fishing hole that is full of big fat fish.” Among these tests was the “London penetration depth,” which determines how far a weak magnetic field penetrates the superconductor from the surface. Miassite exhibited a depth varying linearly with temperature, a behavior characteristic of unconventional superconductors.
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