LK-99: Team of Southeast University observed zero resistance below 110 K(twitter.com)
twitter.com
LK-99: Team of Southeast University observed zero resistance below 110 K
https://twitter.com/lipez400/status/1686793608626663441
341 comments
https://nitter.net/lipez400/status/1686793608626663441
To me this is encouraging. 110K is really high! It's higher than YBCO which is what they make commercial "high temperature" superconducting tape out of. IMO if this is legit (I have no way of judging the source) then this is the first good third party evidence that the original researchers are not just doing some kind of fraud. A total fraud wouldn't have actually discovered a novel high-temperature, but not room temperature, superconductor.
At worst it seems to me like they discovered a cool new superconductor that may have commercial applications. At best, they may have a variant of this material that really is a room temperature superconductor. Either way, there is an important scientific discovery here.
I'm surprised the prediction markets don't seem to be reacting. Maybe the source isn't actually credible? Any Chinese speakers here know?
At worst it seems to me like they discovered a cool new superconductor that may have commercial applications. At best, they may have a variant of this material that really is a room temperature superconductor. Either way, there is an important scientific discovery here.
I'm surprised the prediction markets don't seem to be reacting. Maybe the source isn't actually credible? Any Chinese speakers here know?
This is my first comment on this material, because I've been skeptical, but this result shouldn't be understated. It basically confirms the existence of a new family of high-temperature superconductors, the first of its kind since the cuprates in 1986. And for context, in the initial paper on the cuprates the critical temperature was measured to be 36 K. By synthesising other members of the cuprate family and optimising the growth, it was possible to raise it to 127 K in the subsequent few years. The 110 K seen today for LK-99 sets a baseline, and it's a very good baseline at that. Confirm me as excited.
Huge news. This means it is not a scam as a discovery of this type of superconductor would be big enough.
It also means it is unlikely they were measuring wrong for multiple years.
My layman take is that Korean sample is just a better or different batch that is properly superconducting at room temperature.
It also means it is unlikely they were measuring wrong for multiple years.
My layman take is that Korean sample is just a better or different batch that is properly superconducting at room temperature.
Certainly no expert here but if you take the original video and replications at face value it does exhibit strong diamagnetism at room temperature. Superconductors are diamagnetic due to the Meissner effect at their superconducting temperature. This would mean LK99 is a superconductor at low temperature and separately be strongly diamagnetic at room temperature (no Meissner effect if it's not super conducting). Would that be unusual?
Interesting. Some people are getting strong diamagnetism at RTP, and now someone is actually seeing zero resistance at a low temperature.
I'd take this as mildly positive news. It would be a surprising material if it were a high Tc (only in the LN2 sense) superconductor that is also strongly diamagnetic at room temperature (though I'm not sure if that's more surprising than a RTP superconductor).
I'd take this as mildly positive news. It would be a surprising material if it were a high Tc (only in the LN2 sense) superconductor that is also strongly diamagnetic at room temperature (though I'm not sure if that's more surprising than a RTP superconductor).
Just FYI, the wikipedia page for LK-99 has a very useful tracking grid of replication attempts with sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LK-99
Can someone with field expertise explain the implications if this material were real / replicable / cheaply manufacturable? I see a lot of breathless excitement in these comments, as if free energy and perpetual motion machines are right around the corner, but from the few details I've delved into it's more like the electric grid might get 10% more efficient, MRIs might get a little cheaper, etc.
What are the exciting and apparently obvious applications that have everyone so excited? Is it a fusion / tokamak containment thing, that the cost of cooling current superconducting magnets is one of the big barriers to net energy generation?
What are the exciting and apparently obvious applications that have everyone so excited? Is it a fusion / tokamak containment thing, that the cost of cooling current superconducting magnets is one of the big barriers to net energy generation?
There are multiple mentions of "extraterrestrial super islands", is this a mistranslation of the Meissner effect? Great term nonetheless.
The actual video is here: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1pM4y1p7u5
Short summary (not a physicist and consume most of my science in English, so may be slightly wrong):
- The material is fragile, and hard to form into a regular shape
- There's a weird drop in resistance around 230K; could be an artefact of the measurement process or instrument
- On 1 Aug they found a sample with almost 0 resistance, which got them really excited and led to them searching for more
- They tested 6 samples, only one of which exhibited zero resistance at below 110K
Basically, results are inconclusive, but it's promising.
Short summary (not a physicist and consume most of my science in English, so may be slightly wrong):
- The material is fragile, and hard to form into a regular shape
- There's a weird drop in resistance around 230K; could be an artefact of the measurement process or instrument
- On 1 Aug they found a sample with almost 0 resistance, which got them really excited and led to them searching for more
- They tested 6 samples, only one of which exhibited zero resistance at below 110K
Basically, results are inconclusive, but it's promising.
This appears to be a great result.
"Room temperature" super conductor result? No.
But this is basically showing there is some superconductivity in the sample, and cooler temperatures expose intrinsic band structures.
Pretty exciting!
"Room temperature" super conductor result? No.
But this is basically showing there is some superconductivity in the sample, and cooler temperatures expose intrinsic band structures.
Pretty exciting!
Ok not sure how to phrase this:
Could there be small pieces of RTSC inside the sample (causing the floating)
But then enough impurities to not be able to complete a circuit through the sample?
And cooling makes other parts of the sample super conducting?
Could there be small pieces of RTSC inside the sample (causing the floating)
But then enough impurities to not be able to complete a circuit through the sample?
And cooling makes other parts of the sample super conducting?
That's a failed repro then right?
Below 110K is below -163.15 Celcius
How would that compare to other superconductors?
Below 110K is below -163.15 Celcius
How would that compare to other superconductors?
As I understand it, this is strong evidence of this being a novel new superconductor, but not at room temperature.
That's still TBD but hasn't been replicated by anyone reputable yet.
That's still TBD but hasn't been replicated by anyone reputable yet.
In the video, it says above 110K and not below, I got confused as well. I will add that a lot of people are deleting retweeting this. May be there is something more to it.
Why would other teams be observing floating at room temp? Is it possible to have a diamagnet that becomes a superconductor?
The one interesting thing I should note is that synthesis of the copper phosphide intermediate tends to result in a copper deficient product, so I wonder if the presence of lattice defects in this might have an effect on where the copper atoms intercalate in the lattice.
In American dollars that is -261.67F, a little chilly for room temp.
Why are all these materials confirmations coming from Chinese speaking scientists? Do scientists in the US not do materials science so much?
The Fig 3a)b) graphs are not showing superconductivity. That just looks like the resistance dips below the ~1e-5 mark and goes goes deep into the noise. That just looks like a normal conductor that has a positive temperature coefficient.
edit: to add speculation, I think they made something that's not quite LK-99, and it's behaving like a normal conductor with no superconductance.
edit: to add speculation, I think they made something that's not quite LK-99, and it's behaving like a normal conductor with no superconductance.
Read the graph, there is a sharp drop in resistance from 220K-250K. Its still not superconducting but it could be hinting something?
Almost all replication attempts are done on Bilibili, which namesake Mikoto Misaka using Railgun which would be made by superconductors.
Very beautiful.
Very beautiful.
Novice question - does a material behaving as a superconductor occur all the sudden like a step function if resistance is plotted against temp and pressure - or does it ease into super conductor behavior?
(edit) Also is it resistance (aka if I remember my EE degree correctly), DC only or also impedance where frequency also matters?
(edit) Also is it resistance (aka if I remember my EE degree correctly), DC only or also impedance where frequency also matters?
The fact that result seem to be all over the place has me hopeful.
If it was just straight up wrong/fraud it wouldn't be playing out like this.
Perhaps with some finetuning we'll nail it down.
If it was just straight up wrong/fraud it wouldn't be playing out like this.
Perhaps with some finetuning we'll nail it down.
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> below 110 K
It is not room temperature, is it?
It is not room temperature, is it?
Fascinating and ultimately confusing result. What is happening in that higher temperature window where the resistance suddenly drops orders of magnitude?
Incredibly poor showing on HN around these issues. Lay people vastly over estimate their ability to reason/comment on physics issues.
I want to believe.
Looks like it still goes superconducting at a magnetic field of 9 Tesla. Does that seem like a really high critical field?