3 ms·

Agreed. Looking at the timeline on the Wikipedia page, a new 100K ambient pressure SC material is nothing to scoff at. It means LK99 is about as good as the ot

Agreed. Looking at the timeline on the Wikipedia page, a new 100K ambient pressure SC material is nothing to scoff at. It means LK99 is about as good as the other materials, at minimum. However, its chemical composition is different than any of the other materials on the chart (i.e. it is lead based). That probably means there's lots to learn and new phenomena to be understood and optimized. Furthermore, if this lab could achieve these results in a matter of weeks, perhaps labs with more exotic equipment and dedication will be able to get better results, raising the bar even higher.

jjallen 3y ago
Exactly. These are literally the first attempts to replicate a poorly explained production process. Things are only going to get better over time as the materials increase in purity. These are other labs seeking publicity partly. I for one think that this will turn out to be a major breakthrough based on the meta facts (decades of development for one) and not the actual science.
dr_zoidberg 3y ago
> It means LK99 is about as good as the other materials, at minimum. However, its chemical composition is different than any of the other materials on the chart (i.e. it is lead based) While what you say is correct, let's not forget that lead _is_ an elemental superconductor. With a Tc of 7K, it's only bested by niobium (9K) and diamond (11K) as an elemental superconductor. Yes, cuprates and ceramics were ruling high-temperature SC so far, but it's not like lead was entirely unexpected in the superconducting world.