A Peking University group did get some levitation in an Lk99 replication attempt. Their sample is not a superconductor. They describe the semi-levitation is the result of magnetic torque.
Guo et. al synthesized #LK99 with the published methodology and matched the material composition to the original using X-Ray Diffraction. They observed levitation in the sample and conducted a litany of other tests. pic.twitter.com/iZcK6IYeIw
— Alex Kaplan (@alexkaplan0) August 8, 2023
Additionally, it has been discovered that the Peking university replication attempt of LK-99 used sintering rather than annealing, a completely different process to the one described in the original paper. pic.twitter.com/eg7EZCg2hB
— Floates0x (@floates0x) August 8, 2023
This could mean that sintering does not work and only oxygen annealing. It could also mean that the steps listed in the rushed LK99 papers are incomplete. It can also mean that getting superconductivity into LK99 like samples is hard and rare. It can also mean that there is no superconductivity with LK99 and the class of LK99 like and inspired materials.
I think more thorough investigation needs to be done and more variations checked. We also need to see what the original team has done when they have a complete peer reviewed paper at the end of this month or next month.
An Indian team tried to replicate LK99 but did not get any levitation effects.
Absence of superconductivity in LK-99 at ambient conditions
Kapil Kumar, N. K. Karn, Yogesh Kumar, V.P.S. Awana (CSIR-NPL) Aug 7, 2023.
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The original paper started from a mixed powder and held it at elevated temperature to gain a coalesced solid. That is sintering. It can also be annealing at the same time, since those are not separate processes.
Annealing is a type of heat treatment where internal defects, atoms, etc are allowed to move around with the help of the applied heat. Usually this is done to reduce internal stress inside the material, but it can also be to form the target crystal structure.
They are both heat treatments, so while the source powder is sintering into a solid, it is also getting annealed at the same time.
Whatever it is, the people studying condensed matter physics just got something interesting to work on. I’m not making excuses when I say I left graduate school in 2003 because there wasn’t any *real* research to do in my chosen field. Recognizing a stagnant field might be rare – I digress.
Spend a little more of my tax money on this and a little less of my money on cluster munitions, please.