When magnetism becomes superconductivity's ally
In nickelates, superconductivity vanishes — then reappears — as the magnetic field grows stronger
Superconductors can carry electrical current without resistance, making them important for technologies such as energy-efficient electronics and powerful magnets. But there’s a catch: strong magnetic fields usually destroy superconductivity.
But what if something remarkable could change this limitation? In a Nature Communications paper, Los Alamos researchers and collaborators studying nickelate materials at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Pulsed Field Facility recount their discovery.
What they learned: The research team found that in some nickelate samples, superconductivity disappears as the magnetic field increases — but then comes back at even higher fields. In samples that superconduct at higher temperatures, superconductivity persists to at least 65 tesla, more than 20 times the magnetic field of a typical hospital MRI scanner.
- Magnetic europium atoms in the samples create an internal magnetic effect that partially opposes the applied external field.
- Under the right conditions, increasing the magnetic field can help protect superconductivity rather than destroy it.
Why this matters: Instead of simply making superconductors resist stronger fields, this work suggests that researchers may be able to engineer magnetism inside nickelates to help protect superconductivity. If this principle can be extended and optimized, it could eventually enable superconducting magnets, sensors and quantum devices that operate in much stronger magnetic fields.
What’s next: The team now wants to understand why the effect is so strong and whether it can be deliberately optimized by changing the material's composition, thickness or other properties.
Funding: “Science of 100 Tesla” under the U.S. Department of Energy's Basic Energy Sciences program supported this work. Researchers performed experiments at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory’s Pulsed Field Facility, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, Florida State University and DOE.
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