• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.08a
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• pp.133.4-133
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• 1998

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.1-4
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• 2024

We investigated Pb_10-xCu_x(PO₄)₆ (0.9 < x < 1.1) (LK-99) and Cu₂S, presumed to be contained as an impurity in LK-99, in a wide spectral range from far infrared to ultraviolet using optical spectroscopy. The optical conductivity spectra of both samples were obtained from measured reflectance spectra at various temperatures from 80 to 434 K. Both samples showed several infrared-active phonons in the far and mid-infrared regions. LK-99 showed typical insulating features with a band gap of ~1 eV. Cu₂S showed a nonmonotonic temperature-dependent trend and two energy gaps: one energy gap of ~93 meV and a band gap of 2.42 eV. Our results indicate that LK-99 cannot be a superconductor because it is an insulator with a large band gap.