For nearly four decades, scientists have been scratching their heads over materials called ‘strange metals.’
These weird metals don’t follow the usual rules of how electricity works.
But recently, a group of researchers led by Aavishkar Patel from the Flatiron Institute in New York City might have cracked the code.
In a recent issue of the journal Science, Patel and his team gave a straightforward explanation for why strange metals act the way they do.
This is a big deal because understanding these metals could help researchers discover new types of superconductors. What’s a superconductor, you ask?
Well, it’s a material that allows electricity to flow through it with zero resistance when it’s cold enough. Imagine your computer running super-fast without heating up; that’s the power of a superconductor.
So, what’s unique about these strange metals? In normal metals like gold or copper, electricity flows more easily when they’re hot.
But strange metals are different. They resist the flow of electricity more than regular metals, especially at lower temperatures.
Here’s where it gets really exciting: Patel and his team found that two special features make strange metals behave this way.
First, the electrons (tiny particles that make electricity work) in these metals can get ‘tangled up’ in each other, affecting each other even if they’re far apart. This is known as ‘quantum entanglement.’
Second, strange metals don’t have a neat, uniform structure; their atoms are arranged more like a crazy patchwork quilt.
Individually, these two properties didn’t explain much. But when the researchers looked at them together, it was like a light bulb went on.
The patchy structure means that electrons interact in an unpredictable way, knocking each other about as they move. This messy movement results in the electrical resistance we see.
Plus, the hotter the metal gets, the more these electrons bump into each other, increasing the resistance.
Before Patel’s research, people thought understanding strange metals was a complicated matter. But now, Patel says, “It’s an extremely simple thing. For a long time, people were making this whole story of strange metals unnecessarily complicated.”
This discovery is not just cool science trivia; it has practical uses too. Patel believes that understanding strange metals better could help in making new kinds of superconductors. These could be used in future technology like super-fast, super-efficient quantum computers.
He even thinks this knowledge could help us understand why some materials want to become superconductors but can’t. Maybe, by studying strange metals, scientists can remove the roadblocks to superconductivity.
Now that we understand them a bit more, the name ‘strange metals’ might not fit anymore. Patel suggests calling them ‘unusual metals’ instead. Whatever we end up calling them, there’s no doubt that these once-mysterious metals have become a lot less puzzling.
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Source: Simons Foundation.
