Uranium rhodium germanium

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Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory, published in August, 2005's issue of Science, that uranium rhodium germanium (URhGe) is the first discovered metal that becomes superconducting in the presence of an extremely strong electromagnetic field. Very unlike other superconducting materials, whose superconducting properties can be lost due to strong magnetic fields, uranium rhodium germanium actually regains superconducting abilities at about 8 teslas.

[edit] Process

URhGe's critical temperature (T_c) is normally about 280 millikelvins.

The Grenoble team in France, headed by Andrew D. Huxley, first cooled down the sample below its critical temperature and raised the magnetic field to 2 T. As expected, the sample's superconducting properties vanished. However, when the team raised the magnetic field to 8 T, the superconducting behavior continued. The critical temperature at that field strength increased to about 400 millikelvins. The sample retained the superconducting state until 13 T. They also found that at 12 T, the URhGe sample experienced a magnetic phase transition.

[edit] External links

• August 2005 PhysicsWeb news article
• Science article in which it was published