Scientists just made a superconductor stronger using “empty space”

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that quantum fluctuations in a vacuum can strengthen superconductivity, opening a new path for controlling unusual states of matter.

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. The collaboration also included Prof. Qingdong Jiang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Prof. Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other researchers.

In everyday language, a vacuum may sound like completely empty space. Quantum physics paints a very different picture.

According to quantum electrodynamics and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, even the lowest energy state is never perfectly still. Virtual particles continually appear and disappear, producing an ever present background of quantum fluctuations.