00:00For about 40 years, scientists have studied a family of copper-based superconductors called cuprits.
00:06Now a new study says the crystal inside them is less uniform than assumed.
00:10Researchers at the University of Warwick scanned the material with 3D X-ray diffraction in France.
00:16They saw a patchwork of regions.
00:18Two slightly different atomic arrangements make up that patchwork.
00:21The boundaries between those regions were hundreds of times wider than expected.
00:26The team suggests those boundaries may weaken superconductivity.
00:30That could help explain why some materials perform better than others.
00:33The imaging was possible after a 150 million euro upgrade to the facility.
00:38The findings were published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
00:41The patchwork challenges the idea of a uniform crystal that researchers have relied on for decades.
00:47Disclosure. This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
