{"id":226444,"date":"2017-06-01T06:00:35","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T10:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=226444"},"modified":"2023-11-08T21:01:21","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T02:01:21","slug":"physicists-create-antiferromagnet-that-may-help-them-better-understand-superconductors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2017\/06\/physicists-create-antiferromagnet-that-may-help-them-better-understand-superconductors\/","title":{"rendered":"Figuring out superconductors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
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Physics Professor Markus Greiner (in back) and his team \u2014 Anton Mazurenko (from left), senior grad student, Daniel Greif, postdoc fellow, Geoffrey Ji, graduate student, and Christie Chiu (not shown) \u2014 have created an antiferromagnet, an exotic form of matter that can give important insights into how room temperature superconductors might be created.\n<\/p>

Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tScience & Tech\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tFiguring out superconductors\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t
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\n\t\tPeter Reuell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tPhysicists create antiferromagnet that may help develop, monitor key materials\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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From the moment when physicists discovered superconductors \u2014 materials that conduct electricity without resistance at extremely low temperatures \u2014 they wondered whether they might be able to develop materials that exhibit the same properties at warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n

The key to doing so, a group of Harvard scientists say, may lie in another exotic material known as an antiferromagnet.<\/p>\n

Led by physics professor Markus Greiner, a team of physicists has taken a crucial step toward understanding those materials by creating a quantum antiferromagnet from an ultracold gas of hundreds of lithium atoms. The work is described in a May 25 paper published in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have created a model system for real materials \u2026 and now, for the first time, we can study this model system in a regime where classical computers get to their limit,\u201d Greiner said. \u201cNow, we can poke and prod our antiferromagnet. It\u2019s a beautifully tunable system, and we can even freeze time to take a snapshot of where the atoms are. That\u2019s something you won\u2019t be able to do with an actual solid.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what, exactly, is an antiferromagnet?<\/p>\n

Traditional magnets, the kind that you can stick to your refrigerator, work because the electron spins in the material are aligned, allowing them to work in unison. In an antiferromagnet, however, those spins are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. One spin may be pointed north, while the next is pointing south, and so on.<\/p>\n

Understanding antiferromagnets is important, Greiner and physics professor Eugene Demler said, because experimental work has suggested that, in the most promising high-temperature superconductors \u2014 a class of copper-containing compounds known as cuprates \u2014 the unusual state may be a precursor to high-temperature superconductivity.<\/p>\n

Currently, Demler said, the best cuprates display superconductivity at about minus 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is cold by everyday standards, but far higher than for any other type of superconductor. That temperature is also warm enough to allow practical applications of cuprate superconductors in telecommunications, transportation, and in the generation and transmission of electric power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis antiferromagnet stage is a crucial stepping-stone for understanding superconductors,\u201d said Demler, who led the team providing theoretical support for the experiments. \u201cUnderstanding the physics of these doped antiferromagnets may be the key to high-temperature superconductivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

To build one, Greiner and his team trapped a cloud of lithium atoms in a vacuum and then used a technique they dubbed \u201centropy redistribution\u201d to cool them to just 10 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which allowed them to observe the unusual physics of antiferromagnets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have full control over every atom in our experiment,\u201d said Daniel Greif, the postdoctoral fellow working in Greiner\u2019s lab. \u201cWe use this control to implement a new cooling scheme, which allows us to reach the lowest temperatures so far in such systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t

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\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity." Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n

That degree of control has enabled Greiner and his team to photograph the system with enough detail to identify and extract information about individual atoms. The team can also change the atomic density of the antiferromagnet to search for a superconducting state.<\/p>\n

The system isn\u2019t just a model, but is a special-purpose quantum computer that can simulate the complex physics of antiferromagnets and how their transformation into superconductors can work.<\/p>\n

Though scientists can simulate the quantum properties of simple atoms, and even relatively simple materials, more exotic compounds like cuprates are simply too complex to be modeled accurately by conventional computers, and many in the field believe that quantum computers may be the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people expect that the first field where quantum computers will make a major impact is in quantum simulation,\u201d Demler said. \u201cIf scientists want to test the airflow and other flight characteristics of an airplane, they would build a wind tunnel to test that. This is, essentially, a quantum wind tunnel for real materials.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what we have done in the past is to come up with what we think are simple models. The truth is we still cannot solve those models,\u201d Demler said. \u201cThe end result is that our predictions disagree with experimental results, but we don\u2019t know if our model was incorrect or if we didn\u2019t compute it correctly. With this system, we know exactly which model describes it. And now \u2026 if we make a prediction, they can tell us if it is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the system may one day play a role in designing a new generation of superconductors, Demler said its ultimate importance may lie in helping researchers build a foundation of knowledge for materials science.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity, and then we can become wiser in terms of choosing elements\u201d to investigate.<\/p>\n

This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative, the Harvard Quantum Optics Center, the National Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Gazette\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.harvard.edu\\\/gazette\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/12\\\/Harvard_Gazette_logo.svg\"},\"keywords\":[\"antiferromagnet\",\"cuprates\",\"demler\",\"eugene demler\",\"faculty of arts and sciences\",\"fas\",\"greiner\",\"harvard\",\"high temperature superconductor\",\"magnet\",\"markus greiner\",\"nature\",\"peter reuell\",\"physics\",\"quantum\",\"quantum computer\",\"reuell\",\"superconductor\",\"superconductors\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2017-06-01T10:00:35Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-01T10:00:35Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-09T02:01:21Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/news.harvard.edu\/p.js"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0554_6051.jpg","has_blocks":true,"block_data":{"0":{"blockName":"harvard-gazette\/article-header","attrs":{"blockColorPalette":"","coloredHeading":"","creditText":"Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer","displayDetails":"","displayTitle":"","categoryId":1387,"mediaAlt":"","mediaCaption":"Physics Professor Markus Greiner (in back) and his team \u2014 Anton Mazurenko (from left), senior grad student, Daniel Greif, postdoc fellow, Geoffrey Ji, graduate student, and Christie Chiu (not shown) \u2014 have created an antiferromagnet, an exotic form of matter that can give important insights into how room temperature superconductors might be created.\n","mediaId":226447,"mediaSize":"full","mediaType":"image","mediaUrl":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0554_6051.jpg","poster":"","title":"Figuring out superconductors","subheading":"Physicists create antiferromagnet that may help develop, monitor key materials","centeredImage":true,"className":"is-style-full-width-text-below","mediaHeight":403,"mediaWidth":605,"backgroundFixed":false,"backgroundTone":"light","coloredBackground":false,"displayOverlay":true,"fadeInText":false,"isAmbient":false,"mediaLength":"","mediaPosition":"","posterText":"","titleAbove":false,"useUncroppedImage":false,"lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0554_6051.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Physics Professor Markus Greiner (in back) and his team \u2014 Anton Mazurenko (from left), senior grad student, Daniel Greif, postdoc fellow, Geoffrey Ji, graduate student, and Christie Chiu (not shown) \u2014 have created an antiferromagnet, an exotic form of matter that can give important insights into how room temperature superconductors might be created.\n<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","innerContent":["<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0554_6051.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Physics Professor Markus Greiner (in back) and his team \u2014 Anton Mazurenko (from left), senior grad student, Daniel Greif, postdoc fellow, Geoffrey Ji, graduate student, and Christie Chiu (not shown) \u2014 have created an antiferromagnet, an exotic form of matter that can give important insights into how room temperature superconductors might be created.\n<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n"],"rendered":"<header\n\tclass=\"wp-block-harvard-gazette-article-header alignfull article-header is-style-full-width-text-below centered-image\"\n\tstyle=\" \"\n>\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img alt=\"\" height=\"403\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0554_6051.jpg\" width=\"605\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><p class=\"wp-element-caption--caption\">Physics Professor Markus Greiner (in back) and his team \u2014 Anton Mazurenko (from left), senior grad student, Daniel Greif, postdoc fellow, Geoffrey Ji, graduate student, and Christie Chiu (not shown) \u2014 have created an antiferromagnet, an exotic form of matter that can give important insights into how room temperature superconductors might be created.\n<\/p><p class=\"wp-element-caption--credit\">Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t<div class=\"article-header__content\">\n\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\tclass=\"article-header__category\"\n\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/science-technology\/\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\tScience & Tech\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t<h1 class=\"article-header__title wp-block-heading \">\n\t\tFiguring out superconductors\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<div class=\"article-header__meta\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tPeter Reuell\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2017-06-01\">\n\t\t\tJune 1, 2017\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t5 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tPhysicists create antiferromagnet that may help develop, monitor key materials\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>From the moment when physicists discovered superconductors \u2014 materials that conduct electricity without resistance at extremely low temperatures \u2014 they wondered whether they might be able to develop materials that exhibit the same properties at warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>The key to doing so, a group of Harvard scientists say, may lie in another exotic material known as an antiferromagnet.<\/p>\n<p>Led by physics professor Markus Greiner, a team of physicists has taken a crucial step toward understanding those materials by creating a quantum antiferromagnet from an ultracold gas of hundreds of lithium atoms. The work is described in a May 25 paper published in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have created a model system for real materials \u2026 and now, for the first time, we can study this model system in a regime where classical computers get to their limit,\u201d Greiner said. \u201cNow, we can poke and prod our antiferromagnet. It\u2019s a beautifully tunable system, and we can even freeze time to take a snapshot of where the atoms are. That\u2019s something you won\u2019t be able to do with an actual solid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what, exactly, is an antiferromagnet?<\/p>\n<p>Traditional magnets, the kind that you can stick to your refrigerator, work because the electron spins in the material are aligned, allowing them to work in unison. In an antiferromagnet, however, those spins are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. One spin may be pointed north, while the next is pointing south, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding antiferromagnets is important, Greiner and physics professor Eugene Demler said, because experimental work has suggested that, in the most promising high-temperature superconductors \u2014 a class of copper-containing compounds known as cuprates \u2014 the unusual state may be a precursor to high-temperature superconductivity.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, Demler said, the best cuprates display superconductivity at about minus 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is cold by everyday standards, but far higher than for any other type of superconductor. That temperature is also warm enough to allow practical applications of cuprate superconductors in telecommunications, transportation, and in the generation and transmission of electric power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis antiferromagnet stage is a crucial stepping-stone for understanding superconductors,\u201d said Demler, who led the team providing theoretical support for the experiments. \u201cUnderstanding the physics of these doped antiferromagnets may be the key to high-temperature superconductivity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To build one, Greiner and his team trapped a cloud of lithium atoms in a vacuum and then used a technique they dubbed \u201centropy redistribution\u201d to cool them to just 10 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which allowed them to observe the unusual physics of antiferromagnets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have full control over every atom in our experiment,\u201d said Daniel Greif, the postdoctoral fellow working in Greiner\u2019s lab. \u201cWe use this control to implement a new cooling scheme, which allows us to reach the lowest temperatures so far in such systems.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>From the moment when physicists discovered superconductors \u2014 materials that conduct electricity without resistance at extremely low temperatures \u2014 they wondered whether they might be able to develop materials that exhibit the same properties at warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>The key to doing so, a group of Harvard scientists say, may lie in another exotic material known as an antiferromagnet.<\/p>\n<p>Led by physics professor Markus Greiner, a team of physicists has taken a crucial step toward understanding those materials by creating a quantum antiferromagnet from an ultracold gas of hundreds of lithium atoms. The work is described in a May 25 paper published in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have created a model system for real materials \u2026 and now, for the first time, we can study this model system in a regime where classical computers get to their limit,\u201d Greiner said. \u201cNow, we can poke and prod our antiferromagnet. It\u2019s a beautifully tunable system, and we can even freeze time to take a snapshot of where the atoms are. That\u2019s something you won\u2019t be able to do with an actual solid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what, exactly, is an antiferromagnet?<\/p>\n<p>Traditional magnets, the kind that you can stick to your refrigerator, work because the electron spins in the material are aligned, allowing them to work in unison. In an antiferromagnet, however, those spins are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. One spin may be pointed north, while the next is pointing south, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding antiferromagnets is important, Greiner and physics professor Eugene Demler said, because experimental work has suggested that, in the most promising high-temperature superconductors \u2014 a class of copper-containing compounds known as cuprates \u2014 the unusual state may be a precursor to high-temperature superconductivity.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, Demler said, the best cuprates display superconductivity at about minus 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is cold by everyday standards, but far higher than for any other type of superconductor. That temperature is also warm enough to allow practical applications of cuprate superconductors in telecommunications, transportation, and in the generation and transmission of electric power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis antiferromagnet stage is a crucial stepping-stone for understanding superconductors,\u201d said Demler, who led the team providing theoretical support for the experiments. \u201cUnderstanding the physics of these doped antiferromagnets may be the key to high-temperature superconductivity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To build one, Greiner and his team trapped a cloud of lithium atoms in a vacuum and then used a technique they dubbed \u201centropy redistribution\u201d to cool them to just 10 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which allowed them to observe the unusual physics of antiferromagnets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have full control over every atom in our experiment,\u201d said Daniel Greif, the postdoctoral fellow working in Greiner\u2019s lab. \u201cWe use this control to implement a new cooling scheme, which allows us to reach the lowest temperatures so far in such systems.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>From the moment when physicists discovered superconductors \u2014 materials that conduct electricity without resistance at extremely low temperatures \u2014 they wondered whether they might be able to develop materials that exhibit the same properties at warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>The key to doing so, a group of Harvard scientists say, may lie in another exotic material known as an antiferromagnet.<\/p>\n<p>Led by physics professor Markus Greiner, a team of physicists has taken a crucial step toward understanding those materials by creating a quantum antiferromagnet from an ultracold gas of hundreds of lithium atoms. The work is described in a May 25 paper published in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have created a model system for real materials \u2026 and now, for the first time, we can study this model system in a regime where classical computers get to their limit,\u201d Greiner said. \u201cNow, we can poke and prod our antiferromagnet. It\u2019s a beautifully tunable system, and we can even freeze time to take a snapshot of where the atoms are. That\u2019s something you won\u2019t be able to do with an actual solid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what, exactly, is an antiferromagnet?<\/p>\n<p>Traditional magnets, the kind that you can stick to your refrigerator, work because the electron spins in the material are aligned, allowing them to work in unison. In an antiferromagnet, however, those spins are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. One spin may be pointed north, while the next is pointing south, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding antiferromagnets is important, Greiner and physics professor Eugene Demler said, because experimental work has suggested that, in the most promising high-temperature superconductors \u2014 a class of copper-containing compounds known as cuprates \u2014 the unusual state may be a precursor to high-temperature superconductivity.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, Demler said, the best cuprates display superconductivity at about minus 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is cold by everyday standards, but far higher than for any other type of superconductor. That temperature is also warm enough to allow practical applications of cuprate superconductors in telecommunications, transportation, and in the generation and transmission of electric power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis antiferromagnet stage is a crucial stepping-stone for understanding superconductors,\u201d said Demler, who led the team providing theoretical support for the experiments. \u201cUnderstanding the physics of these doped antiferromagnets may be the key to high-temperature superconductivity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To build one, Greiner and his team trapped a cloud of lithium atoms in a vacuum and then used a technique they dubbed \u201centropy redistribution\u201d to cool them to just 10 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which allowed them to observe the unusual physics of antiferromagnets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have full control over every atom in our experiment,\u201d said Daniel Greif, the postdoctoral fellow working in Greiner\u2019s lab. \u201cWe use this control to implement a new cooling scheme, which allows us to reach the lowest temperatures so far in such systems.\u201d<\/p>\n"},{"blockName":"core\/image","attrs":{"sizeSlug":"full","align":"none","id":226446,"caption":"\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity.\" Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer","blob":"","url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0536_605_embed1.jpg","alt":"","lightbox":[],"title":"","href":"","rel":"","linkClass":"","width":"","height":"","aspectRatio":"","scale":"","linkDestination":"","linkTarget":"","lock":[],"metadata":[],"className":"","style":[],"borderColor":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0536_605_embed1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-226446\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity." Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t","innerContent":["\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0536_605_embed1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-226446\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity." Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"],"rendered":"\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0536_605_embed1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-226446\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity." Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t"},{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n<p>That degree of control has enabled Greiner and his team to photograph the system with enough detail to identify and extract information about individual atoms. The team can also change the atomic density of the antiferromagnet to search for a superconducting state.<\/p>\n<p>The system isn\u2019t just a model, but is a special-purpose quantum computer that can simulate the complex physics of antiferromagnets and how their transformation into superconductors can work.<\/p>\n<p>Though scientists can simulate the quantum properties of simple atoms, and even relatively simple materials, more exotic compounds like cuprates are simply too complex to be modeled accurately by conventional computers, and many in the field believe that quantum computers may be the answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany people expect that the first field where quantum computers will make a major impact is in quantum simulation,\u201d Demler said. \u201cIf scientists want to test the airflow and other flight characteristics of an airplane, they would build a wind tunnel to test that. This is, essentially, a quantum wind tunnel for real materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo what we have done in the past is to come up with what we think are simple models. The truth is we still cannot solve those models,\u201d Demler said. \u201cThe end result is that our predictions disagree with experimental results, but we don\u2019t know if our model was incorrect or if we didn\u2019t compute it correctly. With this system, we know exactly which model describes it. And now \u2026 if we make a prediction, they can tell us if it is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though the system may one day play a role in designing a new generation of superconductors, Demler said its ultimate importance may lie in helping researchers build a foundation of knowledge for materials science.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity, and then we can become wiser in terms of choosing elements\u201d to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative, the Harvard Quantum Optics Center, the National Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n<p>That degree of control has enabled Greiner and his team to photograph the system with enough detail to identify and extract information about individual atoms. The team can also change the atomic density of the antiferromagnet to search for a superconducting state.<\/p>\n<p>The system isn\u2019t just a model, but is a special-purpose quantum computer that can simulate the complex physics of antiferromagnets and how their transformation into superconductors can work.<\/p>\n<p>Though scientists can simulate the quantum properties of simple atoms, and even relatively simple materials, more exotic compounds like cuprates are simply too complex to be modeled accurately by conventional computers, and many in the field believe that quantum computers may be the answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany people expect that the first field where quantum computers will make a major impact is in quantum simulation,\u201d Demler said. \u201cIf scientists want to test the airflow and other flight characteristics of an airplane, they would build a wind tunnel to test that. This is, essentially, a quantum wind tunnel for real materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo what we have done in the past is to come up with what we think are simple models. The truth is we still cannot solve those models,\u201d Demler said. \u201cThe end result is that our predictions disagree with experimental results, but we don\u2019t know if our model was incorrect or if we didn\u2019t compute it correctly. With this system, we know exactly which model describes it. And now \u2026 if we make a prediction, they can tell us if it is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though the system may one day play a role in designing a new generation of superconductors, Demler said its ultimate importance may lie in helping researchers build a foundation of knowledge for materials science.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity, and then we can become wiser in terms of choosing elements\u201d to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative, the Harvard Quantum Optics Center, the National Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n<p>That degree of control has enabled Greiner and his team to photograph the system with enough detail to identify and extract information about individual atoms. The team can also change the atomic density of the antiferromagnet to search for a superconducting state.<\/p>\n<p>The system isn\u2019t just a model, but is a special-purpose quantum computer that can simulate the complex physics of antiferromagnets and how their transformation into superconductors can work.<\/p>\n<p>Though scientists can simulate the quantum properties of simple atoms, and even relatively simple materials, more exotic compounds like cuprates are simply too complex to be modeled accurately by conventional computers, and many in the field believe that quantum computers may be the answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany people expect that the first field where quantum computers will make a major impact is in quantum simulation,\u201d Demler said. \u201cIf scientists want to test the airflow and other flight characteristics of an airplane, they would build a wind tunnel to test that. This is, essentially, a quantum wind tunnel for real materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo what we have done in the past is to come up with what we think are simple models. The truth is we still cannot solve those models,\u201d Demler said. \u201cThe end result is that our predictions disagree with experimental results, but we don\u2019t know if our model was incorrect or if we didn\u2019t compute it correctly. With this system, we know exactly which model describes it. And now \u2026 if we make a prediction, they can tell us if it is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though the system may one day play a role in designing a new generation of superconductors, Demler said its ultimate importance may lie in helping researchers build a foundation of knowledge for materials science.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity, and then we can become wiser in terms of choosing elements\u201d to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative, the Harvard Quantum Optics Center, the National Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\r\n\t\n\t\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\r\n\t","\n\t\r\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>From the moment when physicists discovered superconductors \u2014 materials that conduct electricity without resistance at extremely low temperatures \u2014 they wondered whether they might be able to develop materials that exhibit the same properties at warmer temperatures.<\/p>\n<p>The key to doing so, a group of Harvard scientists say, may lie in another exotic material known as an antiferromagnet.<\/p>\n<p>Led by physics professor Markus Greiner, a team of physicists has taken a crucial step toward understanding those materials by creating a quantum antiferromagnet from an ultracold gas of hundreds of lithium atoms. The work is described in a May 25 paper published in the journal Nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have created a model system for real materials \u2026 and now, for the first time, we can study this model system in a regime where classical computers get to their limit,\u201d Greiner said. \u201cNow, we can poke and prod our antiferromagnet. It\u2019s a beautifully tunable system, and we can even freeze time to take a snapshot of where the atoms are. That\u2019s something you won\u2019t be able to do with an actual solid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what, exactly, is an antiferromagnet?<\/p>\n<p>Traditional magnets, the kind that you can stick to your refrigerator, work because the electron spins in the material are aligned, allowing them to work in unison. In an antiferromagnet, however, those spins are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. One spin may be pointed north, while the next is pointing south, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>Understanding antiferromagnets is important, Greiner and physics professor Eugene Demler said, because experimental work has suggested that, in the most promising high-temperature superconductors \u2014 a class of copper-containing compounds known as cuprates \u2014 the unusual state may be a precursor to high-temperature superconductivity.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, Demler said, the best cuprates display superconductivity at about minus 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which is cold by everyday standards, but far higher than for any other type of superconductor. That temperature is also warm enough to allow practical applications of cuprate superconductors in telecommunications, transportation, and in the generation and transmission of electric power.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis antiferromagnet stage is a crucial stepping-stone for understanding superconductors,\u201d said Demler, who led the team providing theoretical support for the experiments. \u201cUnderstanding the physics of these doped antiferromagnets may be the key to high-temperature superconductivity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To build one, Greiner and his team trapped a cloud of lithium atoms in a vacuum and then used a technique they dubbed \u201centropy redistribution\u201d to cool them to just 10 billionths of a degree above absolute zero, which allowed them to observe the unusual physics of antiferromagnets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have full control over every atom in our experiment,\u201d said Daniel Greif, the postdoctoral fellow working in Greiner\u2019s lab. \u201cWe use this control to implement a new cooling scheme, which allows us to reach the lowest temperatures so far in such systems.\u201d<\/p>\n\r\n\t\n\n\t<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignnone size-full is-resized\"><img src=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/051717_greiner_0536_605_embed1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-226446\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity." Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\n\t\r\n\n<p>That degree of control has enabled Greiner and his team to photograph the system with enough detail to identify and extract information about individual atoms. The team can also change the atomic density of the antiferromagnet to search for a superconducting state.<\/p>\n<p>The system isn\u2019t just a model, but is a special-purpose quantum computer that can simulate the complex physics of antiferromagnets and how their transformation into superconductors can work.<\/p>\n<p>Though scientists can simulate the quantum properties of simple atoms, and even relatively simple materials, more exotic compounds like cuprates are simply too complex to be modeled accurately by conventional computers, and many in the field believe that quantum computers may be the answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany people expect that the first field where quantum computers will make a major impact is in quantum simulation,\u201d Demler said. \u201cIf scientists want to test the airflow and other flight characteristics of an airplane, they would build a wind tunnel to test that. This is, essentially, a quantum wind tunnel for real materials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo what we have done in the past is to come up with what we think are simple models. The truth is we still cannot solve those models,\u201d Demler said. \u201cThe end result is that our predictions disagree with experimental results, but we don\u2019t know if our model was incorrect or if we didn\u2019t compute it correctly. With this system, we know exactly which model describes it. And now \u2026 if we make a prediction, they can tell us if it is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though the system may one day play a role in designing a new generation of superconductors, Demler said its ultimate importance may lie in helping researchers build a foundation of knowledge for materials science.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem in trying to come up with better superconductors is that if you take a material and change one parameter \u2026 lots of things are changing,\u201d Demler said. \u201cWith this simulation, we have full control of parameters. So we can actually understand what helps and what suppresses superconductivity, and then we can become wiser in terms of choosing elements\u201d to investigate.<\/p>\n<p>This research was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation EPiQS Initiative, the Harvard Quantum Optics Center, the National Science Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44498,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2005\/05\/probing-the-secrets-of-condensed-matter\/","url_meta":{"origin":226444,"position":0},"title":"Probing the secrets of condensed matter","author":"gazetteimport","date":"May 19, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Eugene Demler is a long way from the high school art student he was when he lived in the Siberian Russian town of Novosibirsk.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & 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