Scientists use pressure to make liquid magnetism breakthrough

https://phys.org/n ^ | MAY 19, 2020 | by Andre Salles, Argonne National Laboratory

[RomanSoldier19]

It sounds like a riddle: What do you get if you take two small diamonds, put a small magnetic crystal between them and squeeze them together very slowly?

The answer is a magnetic liquid, which seems counterintuitive. Liquids become solids under pressure, but not generally the other way around. But this unusual pivotal discovery, unveiled by a team of researchers working at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory, may provide scientists with new insight into high-temperature superconductivity and quantum computing.

Though scientists and engineers have been making use of superconducting materials for decades, the exact process by which high-temperature superconductors conduct electricity without resistance remains a quantum mechanical mystery. The telltale signs of a superconductor are a loss of resistance and a loss of magnetism. High-temperature superconductors can operate at temperatures above those of liquid nitrogen (−320 degrees Fahrenheit), making them attractive for lossless transmission lines in power grids and other applications in the energy sector.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Thanks for the explanation. Why did the pilot use InfraRed and not a regular camera lenses format? Was he trying to track a ‘heat tail’?

[Spktyr]

Even during the day, sometimes you can get a better look at something in IR, and if it’s low light out, IR often does better.