South Korean scientists made headlines late last month with a potential breakthrough in superconductors.
Physicists Sukbae Lee and Jihoon Kim uploaded two papers to Cornell University's arXiv on July 22, claiming to have created the first room-temperature ambient-pressure superconductor named LK-99.
The researchers believe that their "new development will be a brand-new historical event that opens a new era for humankind.”
They presented evidence of a tiny LK-99 fragment levitating above a magnet, an indication of the Meissner effect. This occurs when a material excludes magnetic fields from its interior as it becomes a superconductor.
This discovery quickly sparked global interest because of its potentially enormous implications.
A room-temperature superconductor could vastly improve energy efficiency, revolutionize quantum supercomputers, and potentially lead to faster transportation systems:
Energy Infrastructure: Superconductors offer zero electrical resistance, which means that electric current could flow through them without any energy loss. This could drastically reduce energy waste in electrical systems and revolutionize power transmission across the globe
Transportation: Superconductors are key to technologies like Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) trains, which use superconducting magnets to float above the track, reducing friction and enabling incredibly high speeds. If superconductors could operate at room temperature, this technology could become far more widespread
Electronics: Superconductors could enable the creation of smaller, faster, and more efficient electronic devices. This could lead to breakthroughs in computing, leading to incredibly powerful processors that produce significantly less heat
Alex Kaplan, a physics major at Princeton University, expressed his excitement in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Today might have seen the biggest physics discovery of my lifetime. I don't think people fully grasp the implications of an ambient temperature / pressure superconductor. Here's how it could totally change our lives.
— Alex Kaplan (@alexkaplan0) July 26, 2023
Other experts approached these findings with caution.
For example, Northwestern University physics professor Jens Koch said that "some of his colleagues have already voiced concerns about the data presented by the South Korean group."
Xiaolin Wang, a material scientist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, also expressed skepticism and called for "more convincing experimental data" before drawing firm conclusions. Wang's team at the University of Wollongong attempted to replicate the results but faced challenges in sample fabrication.
As researchers continue to investigate LK-99's properties and attempt to replicate the experiment, the world holds its breath to see if this room-temperature superconductor could truly usher in a new era for humankind and the global tech industry.
Edited by Nikola Djuric