High-temperature superconductor 'pseudogap' imaged

With the right combination of temperature (right scale) and percentage of doping (bottom scale), a cuprate crystal becomes superconducting (dark blue curve). As the percentage of doping decreases, a scanning tunneling microscope image reveals some electrons flowing as waves (shown in a Fourier diagram at lower left) and more and more electrons locked in place in the crystal lattice (image at upper left). This finding points the way toward higher-temperature superconductors, researchers say. Image: Davis Lab