All articles A–Z

Superconducting microwave resonator

A superconducting microwave resonator is a superconducting circuit that stores microwave photons with very low loss, used in quantum computers for qubit readout, coupling, and memory.

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector

A superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD), also called a superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD), counts single photons with a superconducting nanowire and leads photon counting for quantum communication.

Superconducting order parameter

The superconducting order parameter is a complex field describing a superconductor's condensate, introduced by Ginzburg and Landau in 1950 and derived by Gor'kov from BCS theory in 1959.

Superconducting proximity effect

The superconducting proximity effect is the appearance of superconducting correlations in a normal conductor placed in contact with a superconductor, via Andreev reflection, which converts electrons into Cooper pairs.

Superconducting quantum computing

Superconducting quantum computing is an approach to quantum computing in which qubits are superconducting circuits built around Josephson junctions, developed by IBM, Google, Rigetti, and IQM.

Superconducting qubit

A superconducting qubit is a quantum bit built from a superconducting circuit containing a Josephson junction, first demonstrated at NEC in 1999 and cooled to cryogenic temperatures.

Superconducting qubit arrays with tunable couplers

Superconducting qubit arrays with tunable couplers are quantum processor layouts in which a flux-tunable circuit element between qubits switches their interaction on for gates and off at idle.

Superconducting qubit coupled to a mechanical resonator

A superconducting qubit coupled to a mechanical resonator is a hybrid quantum system in which a superconducting circuit controls the quantized vibrations of a tiny mechanical oscillator.

Superconducting qubit readout

Superconducting qubit readout is the measurement of a superconducting qubit's quantum state, typically by probing a coupled microwave resonator; it is a key bottleneck for quantum processors.

Superconducting radio-frequency

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) is accelerator technology in which superconducting niobium cavities cooled to a few kelvin sustain accelerating fields with wall losses a million times lower than copper.

Superconducting RF

Superconducting RF (SRF) is the technology of using superconducting niobium cavities as particle-accelerator structures; pioneered at Stanford in the early 1960s, it cuts RF losses by orders of magnitude versus copper.

Superconducting spintronics

Superconducting spintronics, also called superspintronics, is a condensed-matter research field that converts spin-singlet Cooper pairs into spin-triplet pairs, allowing spin-polarized supercurrents to travel long distances through ferromagnets.

Superconducting Super Collider

The Superconducting Super Collider, also called Desertron, was a particle accelerator planned near Waxahachie, Texas, with a 54-mile tunnel and 40 TeV collisions, canceled by Congress in 1993.

Superconducting transition temperature

The superconducting transition temperature, Tc, is the temperature below which a material loses all electrical resistance and expels magnetic fields, rising from 4.2 K in 1911 to 151 K at ambient pressure in 2026.

Superconducting tunnel junction

A superconducting tunnel junction, or SIS junction, is a thin insulating barrier between two superconductors through which Cooper pairs and quasiparticles tunnel, one form of Josephson junction.

Superconductivity

Superconductivity, or superconduction, is the property of certain materials of conducting electricity with zero resistance when cooled below a critical temperature, first seen in mercury in 1911 and today used mainly in MRI magnets.

Superconductivity in FeSe

Superconductivity in FeSe is the superconducting behavior of iron selenide, whose transition temperature rises from 8 K in bulk to about 80 K at an interface.

Superconductivity in graphene

Superconductivity in graphene is the appearance of resistance-free, Cooper-paired electron transport in graphene, which pristine monolayer graphene lacks but gains through doping, metal intercalation, or twist-angle engineering.

Superconductivity in high-entropy alloys

Superconductivity in high-entropy alloys (HEAs) is superconductivity, the loss of electrical resistance, in metal alloys of five or more principal elements, first reported in the alloy TaNbHfZrTi in 2014.

Superconductivity in hydrogen sulfide

Superconductivity in hydrogen sulfide is the 2015 discovery by Eremets and colleagues in Mainz that compressed hydrogen sulfide superconducts at 203 kelvin, then a record.

Superconductivity in topological insulators

Superconductivity in topological insulators is a superconducting state induced by doping or the proximity effect in materials like Bi2Se3, pursued for Majorana modes and topological quantum computing.

Superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides

Superconductivity in transition metal dichalcogenides occurs in layered MX₂ compounds such as NbSe₂ and TaS₂, whose quasi-two-dimensional superconductivity is tuned by pressure, intercalation, and gating.

Superconductivity in Weyl semimetals

Superconductivity in Weyl semimetals is the emergence of a zero-resistance superconducting state in materials whose normal state hosts Weyl fermions, most studied in tungsten ditelluride (WTe₂), where pressure, potassium intercalation, and proximity to NbSe₂ induce superconductivity.

Superconductor–insulator transition

The superconductor–insulator transition (SIT) is a quantum phase transition in which a material switches from a zero-resistance superconducting state to an insulating one, driven by disorder, magnetic field, thickness, or carrier concentration rather than temperature.