Tc

The group of Stefan Raunser, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, has now elucidated a so-far enigmatic, exceptional secretion mechanism, that allows the release of the gigantic Tc toxins.

The gold standard is to provide evidence of another key attribute of superconductors: their ability to expel an applied magnetic field when they cross Tc and become superconducting.

To confirm that a material superconducts, however, physicists also look for a second telltale indicator, known as the Meissner effect, in which the material expels magnetic fields below Tc.

Over the next 3 years, Eremets and others boosted the Tc as high as 250 K in hydrides containing the heavy metal lanthanum.

Dias and his colleagues thought they could push the Tc up even higher by adding a third element: carbon, which forms strong bonds with neighboring atoms.