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Science 22 March 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5563, pp. 2226 - 2227
DOI: 10.1126/science.1070866
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Perspectives

SUPERCONDUCTIVITY:
The True Colors of Cuprates

J. E. Hirsch

In the early days of superconductivity, superconductors were expected to be good reflectors of high-frequency radiation. Initial experiments did not fulfill this expectation, however, and were abandoned after theory failed to find a mechanism for such reflectivity. In his Perspective, Hirsch highlights the report by Molegraaf et al., who have found experimental evidence for enhanced high-frequency reflection from high-temperature superconductors. The results suggest that high-temperature superconductivity is driven by charge carriers being happy "moving" together, even if they are uncomfortable in each other's presence.

The author is in the Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA. E-mail: jhirsch{at}ucsd.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)