James Walsh Comments on Study of New Superconducting Compound

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Lanthanum is a soft, ductile, silvery-white metal.

James Walsh, assistant professor in the College of Natural Sciences's Department of Chemistry, recently commented on research published in IEEE Spectrum describing "a new superconducting compound [that] offers a bridge to more practical superconductors with a potentially attractive range of applications." The compound uses a specific lanthanum hydride, which "combines atoms of the rare earth metal lanthanum with atoms of hydrogen [and contains] a range of superconducting materials of varying properties." The compound has demonstrated "near-room-temperature bona fides." Though not involved in the research, Walsh weighed in on the study's significance:

“What is impressive about this study is that the authors have been able to measure the resistivity under extremely high magnetic fields. Although high critical temperatures have been a major goal in the field of superconductivity, the critical magnetic field is also important. This is especially true for applications that use the superconducting state to generate high magnetic fields.”

— James Walsh to IEEE Spectrum

Click here to read the full article in IEEE Spectrum.