A study carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) alongside the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory - located in the US and UK respectively - subjected crystals of various substances to neutron scattering analysis to understand the molecular structure in the materials.
The results produced by the team back up the notion that the magnetic properties which may influence the superconductivity of both iron and copper-based chips could utilise the same mechanisms as each other at high temperatures.
Lead ORNL researcher Mark Lumsden explained: "The pairing up of electrons is essential for the formation of the macroscopic quantum state giving rise to superconductivity."
Up until 2008, it was widely believed that only copper-based superconductors were able to operate at high temperatures, but Japanese scientists found that such features could be found in iron-based substances as well.
Recent research by scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory showed that superconductors can be improved by the use of highly ordered crystalline atomic structures.
