Gosh, has it been 20 years since Bednorz and Muller published their landmark discovery?
This past Sept. marked the 20th anniversary of the discovery of High-Tc superconductors. It was a discovery that turns physics, and especially condensed matter physics, upside down. A subject area that was thought to be 'dead' and fully matured, where we thought we knew everything that we were supposed to know, suddenly started revealing a whole new side that were never thought to be possible before. Certainly, there were no theoretical insights into what were to come next during the following years. Certainly, there probably would never again be (at least in my lifetime) the "Physics Woodstock" as the one that happened during the APS March Meeting in NY right after the discovery (although something similar did happen in 2001 in Seattle after the discovery of superconductivity in MgB2 - we called that Physics Woodstock West).
The revolution in the condensed matter that started out by this discovery affected ALL aspects of that field of study. Suddenly, strongly-correlated electron system, which permeates all of condensed matter, has a very prominent poster child in the form of high-Tc superconductors. The understanding that we got out of this material provided insights into a bunch of areas, some even beyond condensed matter.
This week's issue of Science (Science, 17 November, 2006) has a terrific recount of the history, difficulties, and future of High-Tc superconductors. Don't miss it if you have access to the journal.
Zz.
No comments:
Post a Comment