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Cooper pair

British  

noun

  1. physics a pair of weakly bound electrons responsible for the transfer of charge in a superconducting material

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cooper pair Scientific  
/ ko̅o̅′pər /

  1. A pair of weakly bound electrons in a superconductor. Cooper pairs have the property of bosons and can thus reside together in a ground state. They are named after their discoverer, American physicist Leon N. Cooper (born 1930).

  2. See also Bose-Einstein condensate

Etymology

Origin of Cooper pair

C20: named after Leon Neil Cooper (born 1930), US physicist

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The gap represents the minimum energy required to break a Cooper pair and plays a protective role by stabilizing the superconducting state against disturbances.

From Science Daily

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.