A New Family of High-Temperature Superconductors

sciencehabit writes to let us know that physicists are hailing the discovery of a new type of superconductor as a "major advance." The new materials could solve the biggest mystery in condensed matter physics — i.e., how and why cuprate superconductors work — as well as paving the way for practical magnetic levitation and lossless transmission of energy. "God only knows where it will go," says one Nobel Laureate. After the discovery of superconductivity in an iron-and-arsenic compound at 26 kelvin, several Chinese research groups quickly found related materials that are superconducting up to 55K. (Cuprates go as high as 138K; liquid nitrogen boils at 77K.)

Re:Hot!

[Ctrl-Z]

The "firestorm" was ignited by the discovery of cuprate semiconductors, which "have critical temperatures in excess of 90 kelvin"[1], which is above the temperature of liquid nitrogen.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductor [wikipedia.org]

Re:Hot!

[explosivejared]

The article specifically mentions 138 kelvins as the highest temperature where cuprates still hold on to superconductivity. That's roughly -115 degrees celsius. This greatly increases the viability of the material by greatly reducing the energy required to hold it at a critical temperature. Think about the wide extent to which liquid nitrogen is used.

Currently we are in the stage of trying to understand just what exactly is going on at the particle level. Once we move past this research stage (disclaimer: it's been going on for twenty years), the possibilities these materials provide are pretty much endless.

Re:US science is dying?

[Digi-John]

there was a chinese company called NEC which duplicated the Real NEC's tv's poorly but close enough to work for several years before they got caught.

Not only did they make the TVs, but apparently they also dealt with real NEC plants on a regular basis, and due to poor organization, nobody caught on.

Re:US science is dying?

[Anonymous Coward]

The main reason this research is being done in China is the fact that one has to work with Arsenic compounds. The US has more regulations regarding strongly poisonous elements.

Re:Hope it fits in a bedroom

[evanbd]

You can levitate frogs and such by themselves, without having to support them on a levitating magnet -- see the Youtube video [youtube.com]. Of course, that technique doesn't work with superconductors -- the field strength required is higher than they can sustain. Instead, you need a 6 megawatt electromagnet [hfml.ru.nl].

I suppose 6 MW to levitate a frog is about as impractical as it gets...

Re:There's already practical implementations...

[Firethorn]

There's 3 in Chicago that replaced either 7 or 11 oil cooled copper lines. The power company actually made money on that while increasing capacity I hear. They pulled out and sold the copper to cover the cost of the conductors. The LN cost is covered by reduced heat losses and the elimination of the need to pump & cool the oil.