Newly discovered 'superinsulators' promise to transform materials research, electronics design

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To perform the experiment the researchers used a dilution refrigerator a device in which the temperature can be lowered to several millikelvin just above absolute zero. The thin superinsulating films are then placed in the camera of the dilution fri ...
To perform the experiment, the researchers used a dilution refrigerator, a device in which the temperature can be lowered to several millikelvin, just above absolute zero. The thin superinsulating films are then placed in the camera of the dilution fridge. Credit: ANL

Superinsulation may sound like a marketing gimmick for a drafty attic or winter coat. But it is actually a newly discovered fundamental state of matter created by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory in collaboration with several European institutions. This discovery opens new directions of inquiry in condensed matter physics and breaks ground for a new generation of microelectronics.


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