https://news.mit.edu/2023/physicists-discover-new-switch-superconductivity-0622

In recent years, physicists have used #nematicity to describe a coordinated shift that drives a material into a #superconducting state. Strong interactions between electrons cause the material as a whole to stretch infinitesimally, like microscopic taffy, in one particular direction that allows electrons to flow freely in that direction.

Physicists discover a new switch for superconductivity

An MIT study sheds surprising light on how certain superconductors undergo a “nematic transition” — unlocking new, superconducting behavior. The results could help identify unconventional superconducting materials.

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-ai-algorithm-microscopic-nematicity-moir.html

"…typically composed of stacks of #graphene layers with a relative twist…attracted immense attention from the #condensedmatter community…due to their high tunability and…make these systems a perfect playground for testing theories from #stronglycorrelatedphenomena…but directly obtaining these details from experimental data is often an ill-defined inverse problem…we trained a #convolutionalneuralnetwork…to recognize features of #nematicity from the data…"

AI algorithm learns microscopic details of nematicity in moiré systems

Identifying and understanding experimental signatures of phases of matter is usually a challenging task due to strong electron interactions in a material and can become even harder due to external influences in samples with the presence of impurities or other sources of deformations. Typically, these interactions between the electrons in a material give rise to fascinating phenomena such as magnetism, superconductivity and electronic nematicity.

Phys.org