30 January 2024 to 27 February 2024
University of Houston - Main Campus
US/Central timezone

Replication and study of anomalies in LK-99, the alleged ambient-pressure, room-temperature superconductor

24 Feb 2024, 13:24
12m
University of Houston - Main Campus

University of Houston - Main Campus

101 Farish Hall
Talk Condensed Matter Physics Material Science

Speaker

Mr Thacien Habamahoro (University of Houston, Physics department, Texas Center for Superconductivity)

Description

The unique simultaneous appearance of zero resistivity and magnetic field expulsion enable superconductors to have tremendous potential for various applications, such as efficient electric power transmission, much smaller or more powerful magnets, magnetic levitation, high-speed computing, etc. The superconducting critical transition temperature (Tc) has continuously been enhanced owing to the century-old effort at superconductivity. It appears that all record high Tcs since 1994 have been achieved in compounds under very high pressure. The ultimate goal in the superconductivity field is to find a way to retain a coherent quantum state under ambient conditions, i.e., room temperature of ~ 300 K and atmospheric pressure. We have studied LK-99 [Pb10-x Cux(PO4)6O], alleged by Lee et al. to exhibit superconductivity at room temperature and ambient pressure, and have reproduced all the anomalies except for half-levitation they reported as evidence for the claim of LK-99 being an ambient-pressure, room-temperature superconductor. We found that these anomalies are associated with the structural transition of the Cu2S impurity in their sample and not with superconductivity.

Academic year 3rd year
Research Advisor Prof. Ching Wu Chu

Authors

Mr Thacien Habamahoro (University of Houston, Physics department, Texas Center for Superconductivity) Dr Trevor Bontke (University of Houston, Texas Center for Superconductivity) Mr Meiraba Chirom (University of Houston, Electrical Engineering, Texas Center for Superconductivity) Dr Zheng Wu (University of Houston, Texas Center for Superconductivity) Prof. Jiming Bao (University of Houston, Electrical Engineering department, Texas Center for Superconductivity) Dr Liangzi Deng (University of Houston, Physics department, Texas Center for Superconductivity) Prof. Ching Wu Chu (University of Houston, Physics department, Texas Center for Superconductivity)

Presentation materials