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Mahesh

05/01/24 06:55 AM IST

Study revives South Korea superconductivity claim with new data

In News
  • A group of scientists affiliated with research institutes in China and Japan have reported finding a sign of superconductivity in a material that was at the centre of a controversy last year over similar claims.
Meissner effect
  • The sign in question is called the Meissner effect.
  • It is one of a few ‘effects’ certain materials exhibit when they’re able to conduct electric currents without any resistance – i.e. when they become superconductors.
  • The researchers have reported in their paper that they observed the Meissner effect in a compound called copper-substituted lead apatite.
  • Scientists know many types of materials that become superconducting in different conditions – metals, metallic compounds, ceramics, hydrides, etc.
  • They all have one thing in common: they become superconducting either when they’re cooled to extremely low temperatures or when they’re subjected to extremely high pressures.
  • Materials can be used to make wires that transport electricity with zero loss; such transmission losses are the largest source of electric energy loss in the world today.
  • The material will also have uses in medical diagnostics, computing, power generation, advanced electronic circuits, and many other fields.
  • For example, the water-absorbing properties of modern diapers were first tested with particle accelerators, which use superconducting magnets to work
Findings of the study
  • Scientists have reported a sign of near-RTP superconductivity in LK-99, which is in fact copper-substituted lead apatite.
  • According to their preprint paper, they continued to study the material even after other studies had failed to find signs of superconductivity because the latter tested specific claims made by the South Korean group.
  • Instead, the new group has said it synthesised LK-99 samples using a “state of the art” approach and tested it for some other signs of superconductivity.
  • Scientists also know of two types of superconductors, depending on – among other things – how they respond to a magnetic field.
  • If the magnetic field applied to a superconductor becomes too strong, the material will completely lose its superconducting state and allow the field to penetrate its body. These are type I superconductors.
  • In type II superconductors, when the magnetic field strength crosses a threshold, the extent of superconductivity inside the material will gradually drop until, at a higher second threshold, it vanishes completely.
Source- The Hindu

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