Researchers found a type of matter where hitting it with a massive magnet actually *creates* superconductivity instead of killing it.
arXiv · March 17, 2026 · 2603.13498
The Takeaway
In almost all known materials, magnetic fields are the enemy of superconductivity, instantly killing the ability to conduct electricity without resistance. In this study, a specific stack of six graphene layers does the opposite: a magnetic field actually induces the superconducting state, which then survives under conditions that should normally crush it.
From the abstract
In conventional superconductors, superconductivity is generally suppressed by external magnetic fields due to spin-singlet pairing. Here, we report signatures of in-plane-magnetic-field-induced superconductivity in hexalayer rhombohedral graphene and reveal electric-field control of its depairing behavior. With the application of a small in-plane magnetic field $B_{\parallel}$, a superconducting state emerges within a narrow band along a phase boundary. Its properties evolve continuously with in