World-first discovery in Croatia may shape the future of superconductors
- by croatiaweek
- in News
(Illustration)
ZAGREB, 18 June (Hina) – An international team of researchers, led by scientists from the Faculty of Science (PMF) in Zagreb, has, for the first time in Croatia, designed and synthesised an entirely new material with unique magnetic and electronic properties.
The discovered effect could pave the way for the development of new generations of materials crucial for quantum technologies, including superconductors and magnetic systems, PMF reported on Tuesday.
The new material, known as murunskite, occurs in nature only in trace amounts, but the team successfully synthesised it in the laboratory as a single crystal. Despite having a completely disordered structure, it exhibits perfect magnetic and orbital order, a rare and scientifically significant phenomenon.
“This is the first time we’ve seen complete structural randomness give rise to order that extends across the entire crystal,” said Neven Barišić, head of the research team at PMF.
He explained that the synthesis of this new material “changes the way we understand magnetic materials and opens new doors for the development of superconductors.”
The research was funded through national and European scientific grants, including the CeNIKS project, the Croatian Science Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Research Council, and the Austrian Science Fund.
The findings of the study were published in the scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials, and the work was carried out in collaboration with institutions from Austria, France, Switzerland, Singapore, Poland, and the United States.
