The two figures show the results obtained with a specialized
scanning tunneling microscope at temperatures well above and
well below when the electrons pair up in high temperature
superconductors. The top figure shows an atomic scale map of the
strength (delta) for pairing of electrons while superconducting,
in which red shows the strongest pairing regions and blue the
weakest. The bottom figure shows a measurement related to
electron-electron interaction on the exact same atomic sites at
a temperature, well above the superconducting transition
temperature, when electrons repel one another. The surprising
connection between these two measurements is the main finding of
the paper published in Science by the team from Princeton.
Image: Yazdani Group Where's the glue? Scientists find a
surprise when they look for what binds in superconductivity
Posted April 10, 2008; 02:00 p.m. For more than 20 years since
the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, scientists
have been debating the underlying physical