Researchers unveil 'demon particle' that can lead to making superconductors

70 yrs after it was first predicted, scientists discover the elusive particle which can form at any temperature as it has no mass

Researchers at the University of Illinois recently discovered a demon particle that could lead to the making of superconductors that can operate in room temperature, according to the Daily Mail. 

This massless particle, termed as the holy grail of superconductors, was discovered nearly 70 years after ‘demons’ were first predicted.

Superconductors are certain metals or alloys that can conduct electricity without resistance, but for that to happen, the temperature needs to be below 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Superconductors are used in operations such as levitating trains and highly accurate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. With the discovery of materials capable of operating in room temperature, emergence of more powerful computers could come into being.

According to the Daily Mail, this discovery was made by a team of researchers led by Peter Abbamonte, a professor of physics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, who identified Pines’ prediction while studying the metal strontium ruthenate.

The prediction of demon particle was first made by theoretical physicist David Pines in 1956, who believed that electrons would behave strangely when passed through a solid. Electric interactions make electrons combine to form collective units. This can make them lose individuality in solids. However, with such a large mass, plasmons cannot form with energies available in room temperature. 

Pines said that there is an exception to that. Since demons do not contain mass, they can form with any energy and in room temperatures as well.  

The experiment done by physicists was not related to superconductors, but the metal is similar to high-temperature superconductors. The team of researchers were conduction first survey on the electronic properties of the metal by blasting it with electrons, which led to the summoning of the demon through the metal’s features. Abbamonte was working with a student Ali Husain on this project, who said, “At first, we had no idea what it was. Demons are not in the mainstream. The possibility came up early on, and we basically laughed it off. But, as we started ruling things out, we started to suspect that we had really found the demon.”

Later, Edwin Huang, a Moore Postdoctoral Scholar at UIUC and condensed matter theorist, was asked to calculate the features of strontium ruthenate's electronic structure. Huang said, “Pines’ prediction of demons necessitates rather specific conditions, and it was not clear to anyone whether strontium ruthenate should have a demon at all.”  “We had to perform a microscopic calculation to clarify what was going on. When we did this, we found a particle consisting of two electron bands oscillating out-of-phase with nearly equal magnitude,” he added.