Super insulator

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A super insulator is a material that is a perfect non-conductor at very low temperatures . A super-insulator can lose its super-insulating properties due to changes in temperature, magnetic flux or electrical voltage .

The first known superinsulator was shown in the form of a thin film of titanium nitride . The two Russian scientists Valerii Vinokur, Tatyana Baturina and the low-temperature physicist Christoph Strunk , who is researching at the University of Regensburg, discovered this ability in 2008 at the Argonne National Laboratory in the USA.

This discovery refuted the assumption that super-insulating materials existed only in theory.

So far it is not known whether the reason for the super-insulating ability of the titanium nitride film is a permittivity tending towards infinity or whether this film has zero conductivity.

mechanism

In order for a substance to be a superinsulator, based on previous observations and theoretical considerations, it must also be able to be superconducting in the case of a different magnetic field or other disorder in the material. Even "normal" titanium nitride is superconducting at temperatures below 4.86  K. A highly disordered, only 5 nm thick titanium nitride layer, on the other hand, shows the super-insulating effect at temperatures between 20 mK and 70 mK and in an external magnetic field with a magnetic flux density of 0.9  T. So-called charge energy is built up in the material, which completely suppresses the flow of current. The conductivity of the titanium nitride film can no longer be measured.

This state is based on Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and reverses the properties of a superconductor into the exact opposite.

At the transition from superconductor to superinsulator, electrical charge and magnetic eddies could swap roles. In the case of the super-insulator, magnetic eddies ( flux tubes ) with opposite rotation are supposed to form pairs and circulate around opposite charges. This binds Cooper pairs and holds them in a fixed position. The electrical conductivity drops to zero.

Future areas of application

Practical applications for super insulators could be perfect batteries that cannot discharge when left unused.

In combination with superconductors, superinsulators could be used in the future as electrical circuits that only lose heat.

Criticism of the theory

This theory is not yet fully accepted among solid-state physicists and is discussed among basic researchers.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Super isolator for perfect batteries. In: World of Physics. Retrieved March 15, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Jan Oliver Löfken: The perfect insulator. In: Pro Physics. Retrieved March 15, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Valerii M. Vinokur, Tatyana I. Baturina, Mikhail V. Fistul, Aleksey Yu. Mironov, Mikhail R. Baklanov, Christoph Strunk: Superinsulator and quantum synchronization . In: nature.com . April 3, 2008.
4. ↑ Newly discovered 'superinsulators' promise to transform materials research, electronics design. In: phys.org. July 4, 2008, accessed March 15, 2018 .