Is a recent experiment of South African physicist proof that a new superconducting state of matter exists at room temperature? Or is it merely a violation of the second law of thermodynamics?
According to the April 4 article, Johan Prins, of the a physicist at the University of Pretoria, uses diamonds that are doped with oxygen to achieve a state where superconductivity can exist at room temperature.
From the article on physicsweb.org:
A physicist in South Africa claims to have created a new superconducting state of matter at room temperature. Johan Prins of the University of Pretoria observed the superconducting state in experiments with diamonds that had been doped with oxygen (Semiconductor Science and Technology 18 S131).
Diamond is a semiconductor and Prins has long been interested in using n-type diamond as a "cold" cathode to replace the "hot" cathodes found in television tubes and many other devices. Moreover, he believes that the results of his experiments on n-type diamond surfaces - made by exposing the diamond to energetic oxygen ions - can only be explained by a new type of superconducting state. "If it is not superconductivity then it must be violating the second law of thermodynamics," he says.
You can read the complete article at:
physicsweb.org
Can diamond now be a superconductor?
