The Search for Higher $T_c$ in Houston

TL;DR

This paper celebrates the legacy of high temperature superconductivity research initiated by Mueller and Bednorz, emphasizing ongoing efforts to understand and discover higher critical temperature materials in cuprates.

Contribution

The paper highlights the continuous research and search for higher $T_c$ in cuprate superconductors, building on the foundational discovery by Mueller and Bednorz.

Findings

Historical significance of the 1986 breakthrough

Ongoing research into the origin of high $T_c$ in cuprates

Continued pursuit of higher $T_c$ materials

Abstract

It is a great pleasure to be invited to join the chorus on this auspicious occasion to celebrate Professor K. Alex Mueller's 90th birthday by Professors Annette Bussman-Holder, Hugo Keller, and Antonio Bianconi. As a student in high temperature superconductivity, I am forever grateful to Professor Alex Mueller and Dr. Georg Bednorz "for their important breakthrough in the discovery of superconductivity in the ceramic materials" in 1986 as described in the citation of their 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics. It is this breakthrough discovery that has ushered in the explosion of research activities in high temperature superconductivity (HTS) and has provided immense excitement in HTS science and technology in the ensuing decades till now. Alex has not been resting on his laurels and has continued to search for the origin of the unusual high temperature superconductivity in cuprates.