Newly Discovered Fundamental State Of Matter, A Superinsulator, Has Been Created

[n2doc]

Led by Argonne senior scientist Valerii Vinokur and Russian scientist Tatyana Baturina, an international team of scientists from Argonne, Germany, Russia and Belgium fashioned a thin film of titanium nitride which they then chilled to near absolute zero. When they tried to pass a current through the material, the researchers noticed that its resistance suddenly increased by a factor of 100,000 once the temperature dropped below a certain threshold. The same sudden change also occurred when the researchers decreased the external magnetic field.

Like superconductors, which have applications in many different areas of physics, from accelerators to magnetic-levitation (maglev) trains to MRI machines, superinsulators could eventually find their way into a number of products, including circuits, sensors and battery shields.

If, for example, a battery is left exposed to the air, the charge will eventually drain from it in a matter of days or weeks because the air is not a perfect insulator, according to Vinokur. "If you pass a current through a superconductor, then it will carry the current forever; conversely, if you have a superinsulator, then it will hold a charge forever," he said.

"Titanium nitride films, as well as films prepared from some other materials, can be either superconductors or insulators depending on the thickness of the film," Vinokur said. "If you take the film which is just on the insulating side of the transition and decrease the temperature or magnetic field, then the film all of a sudden becomes a superinsulator."

Scientists could eventually form superinsulators that would encapsulate superconducting wires, creating an optimally efficient electrical pathway with almost no energy lost as heat. A miniature version of these superinsulated superconducting wires could find their way into more efficient electrical circuits.

more:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408160614.htm

[Xipe Totec]

1. That's probably what keeps cheney insulated from reality nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. When they find a material that can shield MAGNETISM, and that's

an if btw, well, if they ever find one we will have it MADE. Magnetic motors will run for FREE. It's a cute thought but not necessarily out of the question.

[n2doc]

3. Isn't that what mu metal is? n/t

I'm waiting for a Gravity insulator....

[eppur_se_muova]

5. The Meissner Effect -- superconductors expel magnetic fields.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meissner_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdiamagnetism

That low-Tc problem is still in the way though.

[Botany]

4. So will this help keep my coffee warm?

[Random_Australian]

6. No. It's not a thermal insulator, just an electrical one.

I use "just" very loosely here.

[Orsino]

7. Worst. Conductor. EVAR.

Epic fail. :7