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29.09.2023 18:30, Sergey Surabekyants
It would seem that the scientific community has come to the conclusion that the LK-99 material does not exhibit superconducting properties at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, but some scientists still continue their research. A new paper published on arXiv reports quantum mechanical simulations of possible superconductivity pathways for LK-99, confirming this possibility. True, the results in the article are preliminary and it has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Levitation of non-magnetic material LK-99 in a magnetic field. Image source: Hyun-Tak Kim
A research paper written by Jun Li and Qi An from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University reports that the current experimental synthesis process for LK-99 could theoretically lead to two end products with different properties, depending on how copper and oxygen atoms replace lead atoms in the starting material – lead apatite.
In some samples, the highly symmetrical arrangement of fundamental particles can form a space through which electrons pass unhindered and without resistance, by combining into so-called Cooper pairs. However, due to the randomness of the formation of these symmetrical regions, they are usually “trapped” within non-superconducting regions of low symmetry, which block the free movement of electrons.
The extremely low number of “symmetrical” arrangements may explain the difficulty of creating superconducting samples during the synthesis of LK-99 – there are so few of them that superconducting behavior does not appear at all. The authors of the study believe that “synthesis of LK-99 samples predominantly in the high symmetry phase could pave the way for the creation of superconductors at room temperature and atmospheric pressure.”
The results of the study, complemented by other theoretical research in the same direction, demonstrate how difficult it is sometimes to move from theory to practice. Theoretically, LK-99 could have superconducting properties at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, but in practice the current synthesis process is not yet mature enough to achieve the desired end result.
