Zhifeng Ren

A piece of silver antimony telluride is like a sponge: it readily soaks up heat and turns it into electricity. Such materials are called thermoelectrics, and they already work in space probes and car refrigerators. But if you squeeze this sponge, it starts behaving like a superconductor — current flows with zero resistance.

In a boron arsenide crystal, the atoms dance a leisurely dance. After a short light pulse, the lattice begins to vibrate, and these vibrations, known as phonons, redistribute energy so unhurriedly that every step seems measured out in advance.