Condensed Matter Sack Lunch Seminar

The microscopic mechanism behind the superconductivity is the formation of bound pairs of electrons (Cooper pairing). So far the complete disappearance of the electrical resistance was the major known consequence of Cooper pairing. I will present novel findings, demonstrating that Cooper pairing is responsible not only for the zero-resistive superconducting state but, paradoxically, also for the zero-conducting superinsulating state. The latter is dual to the superconducting state: It appears at a finite temperature and has all the attributes complementary to the superconducting state, namely, the magnetic field dependent critical temperature and the threshold voltage, which plays the same role as critical current, breaking down the zero-resistance state of superconducting films.