DTN 027: The rock floats

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If you read the Deep Tech Newsletter, chances are you’ve been closely following the developments around LK-99, which may be the world’s first room-temperature ambient superconductor. This week we’re deviating from our normal format to provide a roundup of the latest news about this breakthrough.

Room-temperature ambient superconductors have been a holy grail of physics for decades—and it looks like the world may have just changed forever.

Room-temperature superconductor ‘breakthrough’

“ A team of researchers claims to have created the first materials that conduct electricity perfectly at room temperature and ambient pressure. Superconductors are materials through which electricity can move without encountering any resistance, and so would significantly cut down the energy costs of electronics. But for over a century, researchers have been unable to make them work except under extreme conditions like very low temperatures and remarkably high pressures.

Now, Kim and his colleagues claim to have made a material that is superconductive at room temperature and pressure. If their claims hold up to scientific scrutiny, this new work would be truly extraordinary, so the burden of proof for the research team is equally exceptional. The fact that some previous reports of breakthroughs in superconductivity were later retracted and that other teams failed to replicate the results also raises the stakes.

To make the new material, called LK-99, Kim and his colleagues mixed several powdered compounds containing lead, oxygen, sulphur and phosphorus, then heated them at a high temperature for several hours. This made the powders chemically react and transform into a dark grey solid. The researchers then measured how much a millimetre-sized sample of LK-99 resisted electricity passing through it at different temperatures and found that its so-called resistivity fell sharply from a sizeable positive value at 105°C (221°F) down to nearly zero at 30°C (86°F).

The researchers also tested the material’s response to a magnetic field at a range of temperatures because superconductors are known to expel them as part of a phenomenon called the Meissner effect. They concluded that it did exhibit this effect in the temperature range where it also had near zero resistance.

Because of the Meissner effect, a superconductor floats when placed on a conventional magnet and the researchers recorded a test of this levitation as well. In their video, they placed a piece of LK-99 above a magnet and it clearly rises above the magnet’s surface. However, only one edge of the flat, coin-like material fully levitates, while the other seems to stay in contact with the magnet. Kim says this is due to the sample being imperfect, which means that only some part of it becomes superconductive and exhibits the Meissner effect.” (New Scientist)

The LK-99 News Is Evolving Fast. Here’s a roundup of useful information to stay up to date.

• The original paper posted by Korean research team on arXiv [LINK]
• The original video of LK-99 floating, demonstrating the Meissner effect [LINK]
• A related study on LK-99 published in the Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology in April by several of the Korean researchers involved with the recent breakthrough. [LINK]
• Researchers at Shenyang National Lab validate LK-99 results in simulation [LINK]
• Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory use supercomputer to validate LK-99 results in simulation [LINK]
• First claimed successful replication of LK-99 results from Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology [LINK]
• Did a “Russian anime pfp catgirl anon” replicate LK-99 results in their kitchen? [LINK]

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