KSSC to prepare superconductor sample for verification

A computer-generated image of a superconductor [SHUTTERSTOCK]

A Korean research team verifying the supposed development of a room-temperature superconductor said Friday that a sample of LK-99 is likely to be ready in about two to three weeks at the earliest.

“We expect that we will be able to procure necessary raw material [lead sulfate] by early next week” to recreate the LK-99 sample, the Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics (KSSC) said in a release issued Friday.

“It is estimated to take about two weeks for research teams to reproduce this sample, although the period may vary depending on the team,” it added. “When the sample is secured, it will take about a week to conduct repeated evaluation and cross-examination.”

The academic body launched a verification team after a group of Korean scientists claimed it had developed the world’s first room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor, saying that data in the papers and footage provided by the group is insufficient to prove that a compound made up of lead, copper, phosphorus and oxygen, dubbed LK-99, exhibits superconductivity at room temperatures.

Amid the mounting skepticism over the superconductor claims, the KSSC emphasized that it “will not draw a final conclusion until the cross-examination and recreation of the study is completed.”

As the KSSC's verification is unauthorized by the group, accepting and acknowledging the result is up to its members.

After the superconductor claim took social media by storm over the past few weeks, global research institutes, including the Schoop Lab of Princeton University, came forward to repudiate the six-member Korean team's claims made in the self-archived studies.

Meanwhile, Korea University on Friday said that it opened an investigation into the allegation that Kwon Young-wan, who is a professor at the university and one of the co-authors of the paper, uploaded the paper on the pre-print site arXiv without the co-authors' consent.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]