Terra Quantum, a leading quantum technology company, published in Advanced Quantum Technologies journal the first-ever observation of room-temperature superconductivity, Global Room-Temperature Superconductivity in Graphite.
Superconductivity, the ability of the conductors to carry the electric current without resistance, i.e., without power losses, was discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. His observation that at 4.2 K the resistance in a solid mercury wire immersed in liquid helium suddenly vanishes, which he immediately reported to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, was recognized by the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics. Kamerlingh Onnes’ discovery opened a new epoch in human history.
In about thirty years, it was realized that superconductivity, which is also characterized by the Meissner effect, the complete cancelation of the magnetic field in the interior of the superconductor, is a macroscopic quantum state; thus, this discovery stimulated the development of quantum mechanics, which is the foundation of today’s science and knowledge about nature. Yet, the models of superconductivity predicted that one could hardly expect it to happen above approximately 20 K.
Then, the discovery of what was called “high-temperature superconductivity” in 1986 (Georg Bednorz and Alex Müller, 1987 Nobel Prize), the superconductivity above 77 K, put the next puzzle that had been remaining unresolved till recent work by Terra Quantum’s Chief Technology Officer Professor Valerii Vinokur together with Cristina Diamantini (University of Perugia) and Carlo Trugenberger (SwissScientific Technologies).
Now, the research led by Prof. Vinokur and Professor Yakov Kopelevich, with co-authors from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, University of Perugia, and SwissScientific Technologies, discovered superconductivity at room temperatures. The hope that was viewed as a fairy-tale story became a reality.
“Our work is an experimental discovery that humankind has been waiting for about a hundred years since the first observation of superconductivity in mercury,” said Prof. Valerii Vinokur.
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