Researchers from the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the Physics Department of Sapienza University of Rome have discovered a technique to “draw” superconductor circuits using an X-ray beam.

The research group manipulated regions of high temperature superconductivity in a material that combines oxygen, copper, and lanthanum. Illumination with X-rays causes a small-scale rearrangement of the oxygen atoms in the material, resulting in high temperature superconductivity.

The X-ray beam is then used like a pen to draw circuits in two dimensions, the researchers said. Heat can be used to erase the structures.

The researchers now have the tools to write and erase with high precision, using just a few simple steps and without the chemicals ordinarily used in device fabrication. This ability to rearrange the underlying structure of a material has wider applications to similar compounds containing metal atoms and oxygen, ranging from fuel cells to catalysts, the researchers said.

Ref.: Nicola Poccia, et al., Evolution and control of oxygen order in a cuprate superconductor, Nature Materials, 2011; [DOI:10.1038/nmat3088]