Physicists Outran Quantum 'Tornadoes' to Push a Superconductor to Its True Limit

Physicists Outran Quantum 'Tornadoes' to Push a Superconductor to Its True Limit

Superconductors give us sci-fi-worthy technologies like levitating trains, Big-Bang-replicating particle colliders, and medical machines that reveal our innermost secrets – thankfully only the physiological ones and not, perhaps, a secret love of polka dance.

CaSb₂ Superconductor’s Quantum Vortex Clusters Defy Theory

Scanning SQUID imaging of CaSb₂ reveals dense vortex clusters with enhanced boundary susceptibility and suppressed internal vortex motion, inconsistent with isolated‑vortex and flux tube behaviors. Vortex clustering and spatially inhomogeneous dynamics are observed in CaSb₂, indicating physics beyond existing microscopic theories for single‑band superconductors.