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When I studied physics five years ago, my impression was that nobody really understood high-temperature superconductivity. There were some mathematical models,
by perlgeek 12y ago
When I studied physics five years ago, my impression was that nobody really understood high-temperature superconductivity.
There were some mathematical models, and some professors who claimed to understand it, but nobody was able to give a coherent explanation to the (mostly nearly finished) students, much less predict which materials would exhibit hight-temp superconductivity.
Does anybody know if that changed significantly? The article reads as though the measurements were inspired by the theory, which is always a good sign.
- bradleyjg 12y agoAlthough this is a high-temperature superconductor in the literal sense, it isn't the kind of high-temperature superconductor that no one understands. Those are the cuprates (and now iron based exotica). What's really interesting about this potential discovery isn't just that it exhibits superconductivity at a relatively high temperature but that it seems to be a conventional superconductor. That should give some insight that a slightly better cuprate might not.
- marcosdumay 12y agoThat's a type I (low temperature) superconductor. This type is well understood, and explaining in lots of introduction to materials science and quantum mechanics books. High temperature supercondutors are still not understood.