Using a highly controlled deposition technique, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have synthesized ultrathin films containing multiple samples of a copper-oxide compound to study the compound's electronic behavior at near absolute zero, or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit. This technique, as described in a paper published in this week's Online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is helping scientists understand how electrons behave as this material transitions from being an insulator to a superconductor capable of carrying electric current with no resistance.
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