Two spin liquids square off in an iron-based superconductor

A new study describes how an iron-telluride material related to a family of high-temperature superconductors develops superconductivity with no long-range electronic or magnetic order. In fact, the material displays a liquid-like magnetic state consisting of two coexisting and competing disordered magnetic phases. The results challenge a number of widely accepted paradigms into how unconventional superconductors work.