Comparing ‘sister’ compounds may hold key to quantum puzzle in superconducting materials

For years, physicists have been trying to explain a quantum phenomenon that occurs in a large class of superconducting materials: Electrons in so-called “strange metals” scatter at high rates in ways affected by temperature. Figuring out why this happens in certain unconventional metals could hold the keys to many quantum material puzzles, including high-temperature superconductivity, long sought after by physicists for a more efficient means of electrical energy transfer.