Electron Pairs Precede High-Temperature Superconductivity

Like astronomers tweaking images to gain a more detailed glimpse of distant stars, physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have found ways to sharpen images of the energy spectra in high-temperature superconductors - materials that carry electrical current effortlessly when cooled below a certain temperature. These new imaging methods confirm that the electron pairs needed to carry current emerge above the transition temperature, before superconductivity sets in, but only in a particular direction.

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