Supercurrent @ Room...

Burkard Hillebrands of the University of Kaiserslautern and colleagues say they have detected the first ever supercurrent at room temperature, but certain peers are sceptical of the results and say the claims are premature.
(Courtesy: iStock/Johan Swanepoel)

Topics: Bose-Einstein Condensate, Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics

A room-temperature "supercurrent" has been identified in a Bose–Einstein condensate of quasiparticles called magnons. That's the finding of an international team of researchers, which says the work opens the door to using magnons in information processing. Other researchers, however, believe the claim is premature, arguing that less-novel explanations have not been ruled out.

The term "supercurrent" describes the resistance-free current of charged particles in superconductors. It also describes the viscosity-free current of particles in superfluid helium. The common denominator of these systems is that they can be described as Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) – collections of bosons, such as Cooper pairs or Helium-4, that can be described by a single wavefunction.

Physics World: First ever supercurrent observed at room temperature, Tim Wogan