Sinéad Griffin Dr. presents a recent report on the discovery of room temperature superconductivity in Cu-substituted apatite, which has excited interest in the field. Using density functional theory calculations, the author examines Cu-substituted lead phosphate apatite and uncovers correlated isolated flat bands at the Fermi level, a common characteristic of high-temperature superconductors. These isolated bands are found to originate from a structural distortion induced by the Cu ions and a chiral charge density wave from the Pb lone pairs. The author suggests that a two-band model could capture much of the system’s low-energy physics. The implications of these findings for superconductivity in Cu-doped apatite are also discussed.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.16892