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Serendipitous vs. systematic search for room-temperature superconductivity

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Abstract

This article summarizes the results from a decade of research which began following a serendipitous discovery and continued with a systematic, Edisonian approach. During the serendipitous stage, there were indications of very-high-\(T_\mathrm{c}\) superconductivity (at about 200–250 K) detected in laser-treated samples of doped strontium ruthenates. The synthesis route that had been used was strongly out of equilibrium. In spite of our intense studies, later, synthetic efforts along a route closer to equilibrium conditions did not reveal high-\(T_\mathrm{c}\) superconductivity in the new samples, though there were indications of low-\(T_\mathrm{c}\) superconductivity. Before the arrival of results on nonequilibrium synthetic routes, it is an appropriate time to summarize the results found within the equilibrium routes, analyze potential corollaries of the complex structure of samples within our initial findings, and discuss the next steps of research.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our deep gratitude to colleagues for their support and fruitful discussions during the performance of this research. It is supported by the ONR Grants N00014-15-1-2095 and N00014-16-1-2656.

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  1. Advanced Physics Laboratory, Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University, Burtonsville, MD, 20866, USA

    Armen M. Gulian & Vahan R. Nikoghosyan

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  1. Armen M. Gulian
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  2. Vahan R. Nikoghosyan
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Correspondence to Armen M. Gulian.

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Gulian, A.M., Nikoghosyan, V.R. Serendipitous vs. systematic search for room-temperature superconductivity. Quantum Stud.: Math. Found. 5, 161–176 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40509-017-0143-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40509-017-0143-9

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