High-Performance High- T _c Superconducting Wires

Abstract

We demonstrated short segments of a superconducting wire that meets or exceeds performance requirements for many large-scale applications of high-temperature superconducting materials, especially those requiring a high supercurrent and/or a high engineering critical current density in applied magnetic fields. The performance requirements for these varied applications were met in 3-micrometer-thick YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) films epitaxially grown via pulsed laser ablation on rolling assisted biaxially textured substrates. Enhancements of the critical current in self-field as well as excellent retention of this current in high applied magnetic fields were achieved in the thick films via incorporation of a periodic array of extended columnar defects, composed of self-aligned nanodots of nonsuperconducting material extending through the entire thickness of the film. These columnar defects are highly effective in pinning the superconducting vortices or flux lines, thereby resulting in the substantially enhanced performance of this wire.

Modified Pechini Synthesis of Oxide Powders and Thin Films

“…Different substrates are used for different application, and lattice match to give epitaxy and chemical compatibility are among the important considerations. Special attention has also been directed towards the preparation of superconducting wires, typically consisting of a metallic tape with a superconducting coating, which can enable large-scale applications for electric-power and magnetic applications (Larbalestier et al 2001;Rupich et al 2004;Kang et al 2006). Here, a buffer layer between the metal substrate and the superconducting layer is needed to protect the metal substrate from oxidation and to give epitaxial growth of the superconducting film (Obradors et al 2004).…”

Tuning nanoparticle size for enhanced functionality in perovskite thin films deposited by metal organic deposition

“…After the seminal works demonstrated that second-phase additions 4,12 to RE-Ba-Cu-O (rare earth (RE)) (REBCO) thin films grown using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) significantly improved the current carrying performance in an applied magnetic field, 3,[13][14][15] it was shown that the morphology of the inclusions depends on the synthesis 1 Materials Physics and Applications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA; 2 Graduate School of Science and Technology, Seikei University, Tokyo, Japan; 3 Nanostructures Research Laboratory, Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Nagoya, Japan; 4 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Ibaraki, Japan; method (that is, in situ vs ex situ). 3,16 Moreover, recent work has shown that large quantities (⩾10%) of second-phase additions are required to obtain the desired level of performance in superconductors.…”

Flux pinning enhancement in YBa2Cu3O7−xfilms with BaSnO3nanoparticles

“…The pinning centres, in order to be effective, need to be nanoparticles, less than 15 vol% of the superconductor, and be randomly distributed to provide isotropic 3D pinning. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] in pulsed laser ablated (PLD) YBCO films have been recently investigated for creating nanoparticles for flux pinning. The pinning effect of each of these materials and processes provides effective pinning at various magnetic field levels.…”