Hand-held strand of niobium superconducting material used as windings for the magnet coils of the PETRA electron/positron accelerator at the DESY particle physics laboratory, Hamburg. A superconductor is a material that allows an electric current to flow with almost no resistance, providing it is used at an extremely low temperature - typically a few degrees above absolute zero, -273 degrees Celsius. Advantages of superconducting magnets over conventional resistive types include higher achievable magnetic fields through lower power consumption.