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Comment by mrandish | Hacker News Reader

For comparison, per this Wikipedia page (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconducti...) currently, the highest temperature, ambient pressure superconductor is around 138 K (−135 °C).

I'm no expert but based on my limited understanding, this result (if confirmed) while far from room temperature would still make LK99 a pretty interesting discovery in the SC world. And once a new SC like this is validated there are often methods discovered to improve the temperature or optimize other traits.

To me, the positive news here is that (if confirmed), at least LK99 isn't "nothing". Together with the recently released simulation studies indicating LK99 may have interesting SC-like properties, this causes me to increase my personal Bayesian SWAG estimate on LK99 (or a related descendant) eventually being a meaningful step toward room temp superconductors.

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Agreed. Looking at the timeline on the Wikipedia page, a new 100K ambient pressure SC material is nothing to scoff at.

It means LK99 is about as good as the other materials, at minimum. However, its chemical composition is different than any of the other materials on the chart (i.e. it is lead based). That probably means there's lots to learn and new phenomena to be understood and optimized.

Furthermore, if this lab could achieve these results in a matter of weeks, perhaps labs with more exotic equipment and dedication will be able to get better results, raising the bar even higher.

Exactly. These are literally the first attempts to replicate a poorly explained production process. Things are only going to get better over time as the materials increase in purity. These are other labs seeking publicity partly.

I for one think that this will turn out to be a major breakthrough based on the meta facts (decades of development for one) and not the actual science.

> It means LK99 is about as good as the other materials, at minimum. However, its chemical composition is different than any of the other materials on the chart (i.e. it is lead based)

While what you say is correct, let's not forget that lead _is_ an elemental superconductor. With a Tc of 7K, it's only bested by niobium (9K) and diamond (11K) as an elemental superconductor.

Yes, cuprates and ceramics were ruling high-temperature SC so far, but it's not like lead was entirely unexpected in the superconducting world.

The doping agents used in synthesis seem like interesting pathways towards finding something more stable and reproducible in their cook

It's always interesting to discover a new class of materials that make high temperature superconductors even if they haven't discovered a room temp one.

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