When I studied physics five years ago, my impression was that nobody really understood high-temperature superconductivity.
There were some mathematical models, and some professors who claimed to understand it, but nobody was able to give a coherent explanation to the (mostly nearly finished) students, much less predict which materials would exhibit hight-temp superconductivity.
Does anybody know if that changed significantly? The article reads as though the measurements were inspired by the theory, which is always a good sign.
Although this is a high-temperature superconductor in the literal sense, it isn't the kind of high-temperature superconductor that no one understands. Those are the cuprates (and now iron based exotica).
What's really interesting about this potential discovery isn't just that it exhibits superconductivity at a relatively high temperature but that it seems to be a conventional superconductor. That should give some insight that a slightly better cuprate might not.
That's a type I (low temperature) superconductor. This type is well understood, and explaining in lots of introduction to materials science and quantum mechanics books.
High temperature supercondutors are still not understood.
There were some mathematical models, and some professors who claimed to understand it, but nobody was able to give a coherent explanation to the (mostly nearly finished) students, much less predict which materials would exhibit hight-temp superconductivity.
Does anybody know if that changed significantly? The article reads as though the measurements were inspired by the theory, which is always a good sign.