The key to this breakthrough came through combining materials science expertise and real data into a predictive AI model, which vastly accelerates the timeline of targeted materials discovery.

Superconductors – materials that, when cooled below a critical temperature, can conduct electricity without losing any energy – are used in a number of cutting-edge technologies.

“One reason we chose superconductors is that a new one could potentially change the world,” said Christopher Stiles, a senior computational materials researcher in APL’s Research and Exploratory Development Department.

The new superconductor is an alloy of zirconium, indium and nickel with a superconducting transition temperature around 9 K.

Its discovery, including fabrication of multiple candidate materials, took only three months, clearly demonstrating the revolutionary potential of AI-enabled targeted discovery in materials science.

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