Plutonium is a superconductor TOO
A team of scientists from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA, and the University of Florida Institute of transuranic elements (Germany) under the direction of John Sarrao (John Sarrao) first discovered the effect of superconductivity in plutonium.
Found that fusion of plutonium, cobalt, and gallium becomes superconducting at a temperature of 18.5 Kelvin. The unusually high transition temperature may indicate that the substances on the basis of the plutonium may represent a new class of superconductors - in addition to the already known conventional superconducting materials, high-temperature copper oxides and the so-called vysokofermionnym systems.
The transition temperature at a plutonium alloy is an order of magnitude higher than that observed in vysokofermionnyh systems (substances containing uranium and cerium). The material also has a high critical current, making possible its application in industry in areas where high radioactivity of the plutonium is not an obstacle.
Effect of superconductivity were revealed in the measurements of magnetic susceptibility and resistance over a wide temperature range.
Scientists hope that further studies will be able to detect superconductivity and other transuranic elements with less toxicity.
Source: Adapted from PhysicsWeb
