Email Print Share

News Release 05-104

MIT Group Creates a High-Temperature Superfluid

Vortices in rotating superfluids

The vortices observed in three rotating superfluids superimposed on the eye of a hurricane


June 22, 2005

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created the first example of a high-temperature superfluid: a new state of matter in which the atoms in a gas can move with no friction or slowing down whatsoever.

Reported in the June 23 issue of journal Nature, the work is closely related to the superconductivity of electrons in metals. According to Wolfgang Ketterle, the Nobel laureate who heads the MIT group, observations of superfluids may help solve lingering questions about high-temperature superconductivity, which has widespread applications for magnets, sensors and energy efficient transport of electricity.

"In superfluids, as well as in superconductors, particles move in lockstep," explains Ketterle. "They form one big quantum-mechanical wave." Such a movement allows superconductors to carry electrical currents without resistance.

The MIT research was carried out at the MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and received direct support from NSF, the Office of Naval Research, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Army Research Office.

For more information, see the MIT news release.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Elizabeth A. Thomson, MIT, 617-258-5402, email: thomson@mit.edu
M. Mitchell Waldrop, NSF, (703) 292-7752, email: mwaldrop@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
Wolfgang Ketterle, MIT, 617-253-6815, email: ketterle@mit.edu

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

mail icon Get News Updates by Email 

Connect with us online
NSF website: nsf.gov
NSF News: nsf.gov/news
For News Media: nsf.gov/news/newsroom
Statistics: nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards database: nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Follow us on social
Twitter: twitter.com/NSF
Facebook: facebook.com/US.NSF
Instagram: instagram.com/nsfgov