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Researchers have reportedly unlocked one key mystery surrounding high-temperature superconductivity. 

According to the new research, researchers found a significant phenomenon in copper-oxide (cuprate) high-temperature superconductors. 

"Evidence has been accumulating that this phase supports an exotic density wave state that may be key to its existence," the physicists wrote in the new journal article, according to the press release. A density wave forms in a metal if the fluid electrons themselves crystalize.

The phase is a mysterious pseudo gap phase which is situated between insulating and superconducting phases in the cuprate phase diagram.

Researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to visualize the electronic structure of the oxygen sites within a superconductor. They found a density wave with a d-orbital structure. 

The observation was especially surprising as most density waves have an s-orbital structure and their electron density is isotropic. 

"It's not the pattern you would expect," Lawler said in the press release. "We now believe these density waves exist in all cuprates."

Researchers believe the development of this technology could lead to near lossless delivery of electricity to homes and businesses as well as to improvements in cell phone tower reception and high-speed trains.  

Superconductors conduct electricity without resistance below a certain temperature. For decades, it was thought that these materials could conduct electricity only at temperatures far below freezing. Since 1987, however, scientists have discovered several compounds that superconduct at much higher temperatures, the release added.

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.