Up to now, all announced high temperature superconductors have been made up around copper oxides, in which it has been found that superconductivity occurs only along certain planes of a characteristic layered structure – but scientists at AT&T Bell Laboratories have demonstrated superconductivity in a bismuth, barium and potassium oxide at 30o above Absolute Zero, and say that the three-dimensional structure of the new ceramic does not exhibit the limiting layers of copper-based superconductors; the temperature is not impressive compared with other claims, but the Bell Labs scientists believe they will be able to vary composition of the new material to make it superconduct at much higher temperatures.
