Intermittently Flowing Rivers of Magnetic Flux

The behavior of magnetic fields inside superconductors has implications for both technology and fundamental condensed matter physics. In his Perspective, Nori discusses results published in the same issue by Matsuda et al. ( p. 1393 ) on the motion of magnetic flux lines in a high transition temperature superconductor. Video sequences show how the flux lines move around and are sometimes trapped by defects in the material.