X-Rays Made Superconducting Circuits Possible

Physicists from Italy and U.K in a recent research found that using X-Rays it is now possible to make superconducting circuits. They used a very high intensity beam of X-Rays to control the dopant atoms within a suitable material to build the superconductors. Also in the near future this technique could be used to make circuits containing superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with some additional developments.

Toward Room Temperature Superconductors Key Advance in Understanding Pseudogap Phase in High Tc Superconductors

A team led by Antonio Bianconi of the University of Rome started studying the structure of high temperature superconductor lanthanum copper oxide using X-Rays. Through their research Antonio’s team found the wrong understanding of how the copper-oxide compounds known as cuprates owe their superconducting properties to the way in which dopant oxygen ions are distributed in layers between the copper oxides. Indeed, Antonio’s team found that when lanthanum copper oxide is superconducting, the oxygen ions display a fractal pattern, much similar to the structure of protein within the living cells.

The solid lines indicate electrical connections and the semi-circles represent superconducting junctions. The states of the junctions are indicated by red arrows.

While doing further research they discovered that while increasing the intensity of the X-Ray beam falling on the small portion of lanthanum copper oxide the superconducting property of the material started to grow. If the beam of X-Rays intensity falling on the material reaches a threshold value the lanthanum copper oxide acts as a good superconductor. According to this team, the time taken by the material to attain superconducting property depends on the intensity of X-Ray beam.

“The superconductivity is like a plant,” says Antonio Bianconi. “It needs a certain minimum intensity of light and then it grows over time.”

The next plan of Antonio’s team is to make circuits containing SQUIDs, which might form the basis of qubits inside a quantum computer. He also believes that using X-Rays is highly comfortable and easy compared to lithography method of manufacturing SQUIDs. “You shine the X-rays directly onto the active material and then move the X-rays around like you would a pen,” he says. Antonio also visions the etching of electronic circuits more generally using this method will lead to computers which will modify their own circuitry in order to solve ever more complex problems.