A new tool to attack the mysteries of high-temperature superconductivity

Using ultrafast lasers, scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have tackled the long-standing mystery of how Cooper pairs form in high-temperature superconductors. With pump and probe pulses spaced just trillionths of a second apart, the researchers used photoemission spectroscopy to map rapid changes in electronic states across the superconducting transition, revealing relationships of energy and momentum never seen before in these promising, but stubborn, complex materials. Read more