Seonglae ChoMATTG does not achieve superconductivity at room temperature; rather, the discovery of the V-shaped gap provides hints for the development of room-temperature superconductors.
Superconductors are classified by their "energy gap" shape. Conventional (BCS) superconductors → U-shaped / flat gap, while unconventional superconductors → V-shaped gap. In BCS theory, electron pairs (Cooper pairs) are loosely bound through lattice vibrations (phonons). The gap is flat at the energy minimum → the gap is identical in all directions (isotropic). In V-shaped gaps, electron pairs are directly bound through electron-electron interactions. The gap has points where it approaches zero depending on direction → nodes. These nodes cause the gap to drop in a V-shape (linear decrease).
A breakthrough experiment has directly proven super-unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle trilayer graphene (MATTG). While previous experiments only showed indirect signals, this study precisely measured the superconducting gap, confirming it has a "completely different form (V-shaped gap) from conventional superconductors." This V-shaped gap is strong evidence that superconducting pairs are created directly by electron-electron interactions, not phonon-based coupling, which is a defining characteristic of "unconventional superconductors." The research team developed a new platform that simultaneously measures electron tunneling and electrical transport, successfully observing the true superconducting gap that appears only in the superconducting state. This method can be used to rapidly screen high-temperature superconductor candidates in the future, and is expected to provide crucial clues for the search for room-temperature superconductors.
