12-13-07
Observing Nanscale Metallic Puddles And Mystery Behavior In Electrons
Sciencedaily, (2007), Observing Nanscale Metallic Puddles And Mystery Behavior In Electrons
In collaboration with the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at Los Alamos, an international team of researchers has, for the first time, viewed on a nanoscale the formation of mysterious metallic puddles that facilitate the transition of an electrically insulating material into an electrically conducting one. The research may lead to a better understanding of superconductors–materials that conduct electricity without energy loss–or development of better materials for powering high-speed electronics.
For decades scientists have puzzled over how this transformation to a fully metallic state–known as “Mott” metal-insulator transition–occurs. Balatsky, a Los Alamos condensed-matter theorist, believed, like many other scientists, that the transition begins when metallic puddles begin forming at sites of impurities or imperfections within the lattice. The puddles grow until they touch, and at that point the material becomes conductive, or superconductive.
“We had evidence to believe that metallic puddles were forming in an inhomogenous manner within the material at the transition phase, but we had no way of proving it,” said Balatsky. “If you had the right glasses that could see something extremely small, you could see this process occurring.”
By reading this articl, I learned that people viewed on a nanoscale, the formation of mysterious metallic puddles that facilitate the transition of an electrically insulating material into an electrically conducting one
