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I get the idea of superconducting islands in a non-conducting matrix. What I don't understand is what thin lead films have to do with it, particularly if the su

I get the idea of superconducting islands in a non-conducting matrix. What I don't understand is what thin lead films have to do with it, particularly if the superconducting island thing is well established already. What does the lead film experiment add?

raducu 3y ago
> superconducting islands in a non-conducting matrix. Can somebody who read the article and is knowledgeable in the subject please re-assure me this doesn't mean the material only forms minute super-conducting islands and that we can make wires out of this material in the future?
- adrian_b 3y ago
  The material is very fragile, so even if it will be proven to be a superconductor wires are not a possible application. Nevertheless, there are many applications where it could be used as layers deposited on a rigid substrate, so something like a PCB (a small one, which does not bend) or an interconnection layer for semiconductor chips or superconducting devices like Josephson junctions may be possible.
- rsfern 3y ago
  it’s just a hypothesis, but they are saying that maybe the LK-99 samples people are making look like their figure 4 with tiny superconducting islands of lead That doesn’t mean we won’t be able to make wires and devices in the future. If it’s confirmed that we’re seeing real superconductivity (especially above room temperature) it’s going to drive a ton of research on finding actually good synthesis recipes to make continuous macroscopic chunks of the stuff, even if the current recipe isn’t particularly optimal
adrian_b 3y ago
Lead has been used just because it is the cheapest superconductor and it is easily available everywhere. They have deposited very thin layers of lead on an insulating substrate, making the layers so thin that they became discontinuous. On such discontinuous layers they have measured a few properties and the resulting curves looked weird, somewhat similar to what has been measured on LK-99. This was published as a reply to the people who wonder why the measurements done on samples of LK-99 do not resemble those measured on bulk superconductors.
rsfern 3y ago
The lead films are a model system that show some parallels to the behavior people have been observing with LK-99. Their point is that if this hypothesis is correct, it should be possible to grow fully dense LK-99 material that has much more robust superconductive properties, and that the difficulty of this synthesis could explain why people are getting conflicting results in their reproduction attempts.

raducu 3y ago

> superconducting islands in a non-conducting matrix. Can somebody who read the article and is knowledgeable in the subject please re-assure me this doesn't mean the material only forms minute super-conducting islands and that we can make wires out of this material in the future?

adrian_b 3y ago
The material is very fragile, so even if it will be proven to be a superconductor wires are not a possible application. Nevertheless, there are many applications where it could be used as layers deposited on a rigid substrate, so something like a PCB (a small one, which does not bend) or an interconnection layer for semiconductor chips or superconducting devices like Josephson junctions may be possible.
rsfern 3y ago
it’s just a hypothesis, but they are saying that maybe the LK-99 samples people are making look like their figure 4 with tiny superconducting islands of lead That doesn’t mean we won’t be able to make wires and devices in the future. If it’s confirmed that we’re seeing real superconductivity (especially above room temperature) it’s going to drive a ton of research on finding actually good synthesis recipes to make continuous macroscopic chunks of the stuff, even if the current recipe isn’t particularly optimal

adrian_b 3y ago

Lead has been used just because it is the cheapest superconductor and it is easily available everywhere. They have deposited very thin layers of lead on an insulating substrate, making the layers so thin that they became discontinuous. On such discontinuous layers they have measured a few properties and the resulting curves looked weird, somewhat similar to what has been measured on LK-99. This was published as a reply to the people who wonder why the measurements done on samples of LK-99 do not resemble those measured on bulk superconductors.

rsfern 3y ago

The lead films are a model system that show some parallels to the behavior people have been observing with LK-99. Their point is that if this hypothesis is correct, it should be possible to grow fully dense LK-99 material that has much more robust superconductive properties, and that the difficulty of this synthesis could explain why people are getting conflicting results in their reproduction attempts.