<p>Another interesting one...</p>
<p>Call it a break in the case of "hidden order and the unconventional superconductor." Writing in the journal Nature Physics,* U.S. and Canadian researchers report a major step toward solving a two-decades-old materials science mystery and progress toward the ultimate goal of engineering materials optimized for magnetic and electric properties.</p>
<p>The advance is the result of investigative work done at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Center for Neutron Research (NCNR), and at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) at Florida State University (FSU).</p>
<p>Stray magnetic fields suppress superconductivity, the resistance-free passage of electric current. But the object of the team's scrutiny—a uranium-ruthenium-silicon compound (URu2Si2)—somehow accommodates the normal adversity between magnetism and superconductivity. At 17.5 degrees above absolute zero, once-nomadic electrons that had roamed freely about the compound's lattice-like atomic structure—and generated their own magnetic fields—behave in a more orderly and cooperative fashion. This coherence sets the stage for superconductivity.</p>
<p>The rest is here: <a href="http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/neutron-probe-yields-break-in-superconductor-mystery-12511.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/neutron-probe-yields-break-in-superconductor-mystery-12511.html</a></p>