科學家發現一種新的物質狀態，被稱為“Jahn-Teller metals”
http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered-a-new-state-of-matter-the-jahn-teller-effect?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sciencealert-latestnews+(ScienceAlert-Latest)

它可能是關鍵，理解物理學中最大的謎團今天之一 - 高溫超導體。
BEC船員2015年5月12日


一個國際科學家小組宣布了一種新的物質狀態，這似乎是一個絕緣體，材料的發現[#2b00ff]超導體[/#2b00ff](http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/113.web.stuff/travis/what_is.html)，金屬和磁鐵都集於一身，說這可能導致更有效的高溫超導體的發展。

這是為什麼如此令人興奮？那麼，如果這些屬性被證實，無論這個新國家將讓科學家更好地理解為什麼有些材料必須達到超導在潛在的[#2b00ff]相對較高的臨界溫度[/#2b00ff]（TC）(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconductivity )- “高”在-135℃的，而不是-243.2℃。因為超導允許材料進行發電無阻力，這意味著沒有熱，聲，或任何其他形式的能量釋放，從而實現這會[#2b00ff]徹底改變了我們如何使用和產生能量[/#2b00ff](http://phys.org/news/2015-02-future-high-temperature-superconductivity.html)，但如果能在所謂的實現它是唯一可行的高溫。


[#2b00ff]正如邁克爾·伯恩解釋AT主板[/#2b00ff](http://motherboard.vice.com/en_au/read/meet-the-newest-state-of-matter-2)，當我們談論的物質狀態，它不只是固體，液體，氣體，也許等離子體中，我們必須思考的問題。我們還必須考慮到不會發生在自然界中比較模糊的狀態，但寧可在實驗室中創建-玻色-愛因斯坦凝聚，墮落的事情，supersolids和超流體和夸克-膠子等離子體，例如。

通過引入到銣碳60分子 - 通常被稱為“布基球” - 從Tokohu大學在日本為首的化學家科斯馬斯Prassides一個團隊能夠改變它們之間的距離，這迫使他們進入一個新的晶體結構。當通過測試數組的說，顯示在此結構絕緣，超導，金屬，以及磁性相，包括一個全新的，其研究人員已經命名為'的Jahn-Teller金屬“的組合。

後命名[#2b00ff]Jahn-Teller效應[/#2b00ff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jahn–Teller_effect)，這是用來在化學來描述如何在低壓下，分子和離子的電子狀態的幾何佈置可以被扭曲，不管這種新狀態使科學家改造一個[#2b00ff]絕緣體[/#2b00ff](http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/conins.html) -這可以'牛逼導電-成導體通過簡單地施加壓力。[#2b00ff]伯恩解釋在主板[/#2b00ff](http://motherboard.vice.com/en_au/read/meet-the-newest-state-of-matter-2)：

“這是銣原子做的：施加壓力通常當我們考慮增加的壓力，我們認為在擠什麼東西，迫使其分子緊密地結合在一起用蠻力的條件，但它可能做同樣的事情化學，調整距離。偷偷在一些額外的原子，也許 - 分子通過增加或減少一些他們之間的屏障之間。

會發生什麼的楊 - 泰勒金屬的是，作為壓力施加，並作為什麼以前絕緣體 - 得益於電扭曲Jahn-Teller效應 - 變成金屬，效果持續了一段時間。分子掛在他們的舊的形狀。因此，有各種各樣的重疊，其中該材料看起來仍然非常多像絕緣體，但電子也設法跳周圍一樣自由如果材料是導體。“

而且它在轉化絕緣材料成超有價值的超導材料的可能性絕緣體和導體，直到現在，科學家們從未見過的，並暗示這之間的過渡階段。與此布基球晶體結構似乎是能夠以相對高的TC來做到這一點。“父絕緣體，高於TC正常的金屬態和超導配對機制之間的關係是理解所有非常規超導體的一個關鍵問題，” [#2b00ff]球隊中寫道科學進展[/#2b00ff](http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/3/e1500059)。

還有一大堆的實驗室工作，這一發現之前完成將意味著什麼實際產能在現實世界中，但這是科學的為您服務。而且它讓人們早已激動不已，因為化學家伊麗莎白尼科爾從加拿大圭爾夫大學的[#2b00ff]告訴哈米甚·約翰斯頓在PhysicsWorld[/#2b00ff](http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2015/may/06/new-state-of-matter-found-in-crystal-made-from-buckyballs)：“了解在起作用的機理，以及如何可以被操縱，可靠地改變锝將激發新的[超導]發展材料“。









Scientists have discovered a new state of matter, called 'Jahn-Teller metals'
And it could be the key to understanding one of the biggest mysteries in physics today - high-temperature superconductors.
BEC CREW12 MAY 2015
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An international team of scientists has announced the discovery of a new state of matter in a material that appears to be an insulator, superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one, saying that it could lead to the development of more effective high-temperature superconductors.

Why is this so exciting? Well, if these properties are confirmed, this new state of matter will allow scientists to better understand why some materials have the potential to achieve superconductivity at a relativity high critical temperature (Tc) - "high" as in −135 °C as opposed to −243.2 °C. Because superconductivity allows a material to conduct electricity without resistance, which means no heat, sound, or any other form of energy release, achieving this would revolutionise how we use and produce energy, but it’s only feasible if we can achieve it at so-called high temperatures.


As Michael Byrne explains at Motherboard, when we talk about states of matter, it’s not just solids, liquids, gases, and maybe plasmas that we have to think about. We also have to consider the more obscure states that don’t occur in nature, but are rather created in the lab - Bose–Einstein condensate, degenerate matter, supersolids and superfluids, and quark-gluon plasma, for example.

By introducing rubidium into carbon-60 molecules - more commonly known as 'buckyballs' - a team led by chemist Kosmas Prassides from Tokohu University in Japan was able to change the distance between them, which forced them into a new, crystalline structure. When put through an array of tests, this structure displayed a combination of insulating, superconducting, metallic, and magnetic phases, including a brand new one, which the researchers have named 'Jahn-Teller metals'.

Named after the Jahn-Teller effect, which is used in chemistry to describe how at low pressures, the geometric arrangement of molecules and ions in an electronic state can become distorted, this new state of matter allows scientists to transform an insulator - which can’t conduct electricity - into a conductor by simply applying pressure. Byrne explains at Motherboard:

"This is what the rubidium atoms do: apply pressure. Usually when we think about adding pressure, we think in terms of squeezing something, forcing its molecules closer together by brute force. But it's possible to do the same thing chemically, tweaking the distances between molecules by adding or subtracting some sort of barrier between them - sneaking in some extra atoms, perhaps.

What happens in a Jahn-Teller metal is that as pressure is applied, and as what was previously an insulator - thanks to the electrically-distorting Jahn-Teller effect - becomes a metal, the effect persists for a while. The molecules hang on to their old shapes. So, there is an overlap of sorts, where the material still looks an awful lot like an insulator, but the electrons also manage to hop around as freely as if the material were a conductor."

And it’s this transition phase between insulator and conductor that, until now, scientists have never seen before, and hints at the possibility of transforming insulating materials into super-valuable superconducting materials. And this buckyball crystalline structure appears to be able to do it at a relatively high TC. "The relationship between the parent insulator, the normal metallic state above Tc, and the superconducting pairing mechanism is a key question in understanding all unconventional superconductors," the team writes in Science Advances.

There’s a whole lot of lab-work to be done before this discovery will mean anything for practical energy production in the real world, but that’s science for you. And it’s got people excited already, as chemist Elisabeth Nicol from the University of Guelph in Canada told Hamish Johnston at PhysicsWorld: "Understanding the mechanisms at play and how they can be manipulated to change the Tc surely will inspire the development of new [superconducting] materials".