Scientists just made a superconductor stronger using “empty space”

Researchers have demonstrated that quantum fluctuations in supposedly empty space can strengthen superconductivity, raising the transition temperature of an ultrathin material by as much as 5.4%. The discovery opens the possibility of using specially engineered vacuum environments to control quantum materials without direct contact or external driving. Scientists just made a superconductor stronger using “empty space”.

The study, published in Nature, was led by Profs. Changgan Zeng and Guanghui Cheng of the University of Science and Technology of China of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qingdong Jiang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Prof.

Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other researchers. Empty Space Is Not Truly Empty In everyday language, a vacuum may sound like completely empty space. Quantum physics paints a very different picture.