SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “superconductivity”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 361 records · Page 20

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2021

Multicomponent superconducting order parameter in UTe 2

An unconventional superconducting state was recently discovered in uranium ditelluride (UTe 2 ), in which spin-triplet superconductivity emerges from the paramagnetic normal state of a heavy-fermion material. The coexistence of magnetic fluctuations and superconductivity, together with the crystal structure of this material, suggests that a distinctive set of symmetries, magnetic properties, and topology underlie the superconducting state. Here, we report observations of a nonzero polar Kerr effect and of two transitions in the specific heat upon entering the superconducting state, which together suggest that the superconductivity in UTe 2 is characterized by a two-component order parameter that breaks time-reversal symmetry. These data place constraints on the symmetries of the order parameter and inform the discussion on the presence of topological superconductivity in UTe 2 .

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2025

Project Title: Demonstration High Temperature Superconducting NonPlanar Stellarator Magnet with Advanced Manufactured Assemblies

This is the final report for the project “Demonstration High Temperature Superconducting Non- Planar Stellarator Magnet with Advanced Manufactured Assemblies”, funded by DOE, and performed by Type One Energy from September, 2020, to March 2024 involving the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to design and fabricate the first non-planar HTS (REBCO) coil for a high-field stellarator based on the SPARC tokamak’s VIPER cable concept. Stellarators at high fields make high-temperature superconducting magnets necessary for a compact fusion device. But the asymmetric and non-planar nature of its components, especially the magnets make it difficult for scalable producibility. To address these challenges, two promising technologies have emerged: advanced manufacturing (AM) for the supporting plates for forming the magnets, and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables inside the plates. AM has advanced enough to produce stellarator components with the necessary geometric complexity, size, and the precision, leading to potentially significant reductions in production time, cost, and waste. The cost of HTS tape has decreased dramatically, and progress in HTS planar magnet development has reached a point where it can be proposed for application to complex 3D non-planar magnets. The main objective of this project is to develop, demonstrate and pre-commercialize a novel, non-planar HTS coil shape that remains superconducting to achieve production scalable reductions in time and cost and performance. The proposed technology is based on the novel concept of a precision sub-scale HTS nonplanar coil assembly. This project focuses on the design, fabrication, material optimization of cable design, and validation and demonstration of the high current carrying capability of superconducting magnets and their support in a complex 3D shape needed for application to stellarator magnetic plasma confinement. The specific objectives of this research program include: (1) The successful application of metal AM to build a precision sub-scale HTS nonplanar coil, (2) An HTS cable and cross-section design that can conform to the required nonplanar coil shape (bend radii as tight as 10-cm) and remains superconducting at an engineering current density of 1.35 kA/cm 2 at 77 K and 1 tesla at the conductor (5 kA in the cable). To achieve the above challenging goals, we have formed a multidisciplinary research team consisting of members from Type One Energy and UW-Madison, MIT PSFC and CFS with complementary skills and strong facilities. The team worked collaboratively on fundamental and applied research on the following three major technical areas: (1) Design, fabrication, and optimization of non-planar HTS Cable The ultimate goal of the project is to determine if commercial REBCO tapes and additive manufacturing can be used to fabricate high field (≥ 10T) non-planar coils with tight bending radii (≃ 100mm) and with a degradation of the critical current (Ic) smaller than 20% with respect to the expected performance. We started with shorter length cable to evaluate the scalability of the production process and eventually reached multiple turns for higher magnetic fields. Our findings suggest that a stellarator coil system of a relevant size, characterized by its asymmetric and non-planar components, can be fabricated using a formed cable in plate method. This system can be simulated using a large-scale modeling approach. The use of hybrid modeling 3 techniques will be pivotal in reducing the complexity of the model and in assessing expected performance in designs. (2) Modeling and simulation of the non-planar HTS Cable Multiphysics simulations are performed using the commercial software and are carried out in self-field conditions, involving 2D and 3D models and twisted around one slot of twist-pitched VIPER cable. Multiphysics simulations are mainly focused on the coil for the critical current evaluation, the magnetic field map, self-Lorentz forces and mechanical, and magnetothermal behavior and the quench dynamics. The detailed model and prediction of the superconducting performance of a stellarator-relevant demonstration cable from numerical simulations supports the results from the actual testing backing the results. A detailed description and results are provided in the later sections. (3) Design, fabrication, and optimization of support for the non-planar HTS Cable The team developed an additive manufactured (AM) coil positioning plate that formed into the required non-planar geometry (with bend radii as tight as 10-cm) and to acceptable tolerances required for a stellarator magnet: (+0.25-mm from ideal on dimensions of coil positioning plates and up to +1-mm from ideal for position of wound coil). The plate materials is also included in this selection process from fabrication and 3D printing perspective and commensurate with eventual application to a fusion reactor. From the cost effectiveness point of view, the HTS coil and plate has the potential to cost less than that made in conventional methods with less waste (<75% waste) reducing time (<50%) and cost (<50%), especially as the AM field matures. The application of advanced manufacturing in the construction of the support plates will also lead to cost reduction, as the cables can be easily replaced, thereby making the assembly modular. With such high primary cost and time savings, high current densities and magnetic field, the funded R&D work has validated the designs, proven the feasibility, and characterized the performance of the HTS coil and plate assembly, paving the way for a relevant-size stellarator coil system.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2025

Unconventional compute methods and future challenges for superconducting digital computing

Superconducting digital computing (SDC) based on Josephson junctions (JJs) offers significant potential for enhancing compute throughput and reducing energy consumption compared to conventional room-temperature CMOS-based approaches. Current superconducting logic families exhibit diverse characteristics in clocking strategies, power management, and information encoding techniques. This paper reviews recent advancements in unconventional computing methods specifically designed for superconducting digital circuits, emphasizing temporal computing and pulse-train representations. Notable techniques include race logic (RL), temporal pulse train computing (U-SFQ), and temporal multipliers, each offering unique performance and area advantages suited to superconducting implementations. Additionally, this paper reviews innovations in superconducting coarse-grain reconfigurable architectures (CGRA), superconducting-specific on-chip communication architectures, cryogenic sensor interfaces, and quantum computing control electronics. Finally, we highlight research challenges that should be addressed to facilitate the widespread adoption of superconducting digital computing.

EDA tools↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Risk Reduction Testing of Superconducting Coils for the High Efficiency Megawatt Motor

Second generation high temperature superconducting coils provide a very attractive level of performance for use in the field winding of electric machines for aircraft. Aside from maintaining these coils at cryogenic temperatures, much care must be taken to prevent damaging these relatively fragile materials due to excessive stress. Thermal stresses due to temperature cycling and mechanical stresses due to centrifugal forces are the most critical for the High Efficiency Megawatt Motor. This paper summarizes two test campaigns that were undertaken to reduce the risks posed by these loads. In one campaign, several superconducting coils were fabricated, thermally cycled up to 50~times, and electrically tested in liquid nitrogen to assess the change in superconductivity metrics throughout thermal cycling. In the other campaign, a full-scale superconducting coil was fabricated, a test article was designed to produce a representative stress environment in the coil, the test article and coil were rotated at room temperature up to a speed of 11,800~rpm, and the superconductivity metrics were measured in liquid nitrogen before and after each rotation. The experimental results demonstrate that the superconducting coils manufactured in house can survive both thermal cycling and high speed rotation with no appreciable degradation in superconducting performance.

partially superconducting electric machine↗

DOE OSTI2022

Inter-valley coherent order and isospin fluctuation mediated superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene

Superconductivity was recently discovered in rhombohedral trilayer graphene (RTG) in the absence of a moiré potential. Superconductivity is observed proximate to a metallic state with reduced isospin symmetry, but it remains unknown whether this is a coincidence or a key ingredient for superconductivity. Using a Hartree-Fock analysis and constraints from experiments, we argue that the symmetry breaking is inter-valley coherent (IVC) in nature. We evaluate IVC fluctuations as a possible pairing glue, and find that they lead to chiral unconventional superconductivity when the fluctuations are strong. We further elucidate how the inter-valley Hund’s coupling determines the spin-structure of the IVC ground state and breaks the degeneracy between spin-singlet and triplet superconductivity. Remarkably, if the normal state is spin-unpolarized, we find that a ferromagnetic Hund’s coupling favors spin-singlet superconductivity, in agreement with experiments. Instead, if the normal state is spin-polarized, then IVC fluctuations lead to spin-triplet pairing.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2025

Eliminating Surface Oxides of Superconducting Circuits with Noble Metal Encapsulation

The lifetime of superconducting qubits is limited by dielectric loss, and a major source of dielectric loss is the native oxide present at the surface of the superconducting metal. Specifically, tantalum-based superconducting qubits have been demonstrated with record lifetimes, but a major source of loss is the presence of two-level systems in the surface tantalum oxide. Here, we demonstrate a strategy for avoiding oxide formation by encapsulating the tantalum with noble metals that do not form native oxide. By depositing a few nanometers of Au or AuPd alloy before breaking vacuum, we completely suppress tantalum oxide formation. Microwave loss measurements of superconducting resonators reveal that the noble metal is proximitized, with a superconducting gap over 80% of the bare tantalum at thicknesses where the oxide is fully suppressed. Further, our findings suggest that losses in resonators fabricated by subtractive etching are dominated by oxides on the sidewalls, pointing to total surface encapsulation by additive fabrication as a promising strategy for eliminating surface oxide two-level system loss in superconducting qubits.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2014

Remarkable effects of disorder on superconductivity of single atomic layers of lead on silicon

In bulk materials, superconductivity is remarkably robust with respect to non-magnetic disorder. In the two-dimensional limit, however, disorder and electron correlations both tend to destroy the quantum condensate. Here we study, both experimentally and theoretically, the effect of structural disorder on the local spectral response of crystalline superconducting monolayers of lead on silicon. In a direct scanning tunnelling microscopy measurement, we reveal how the local superconducting spectra lose their conventional character and show variations at scales significantly shorter than the coherence length. We demonstrate that the precise atomic organization determines the robustness of the superconducting order with respect to structural defects, such as single atomic steps, which may disrupt superconductivity and act as native Josephson barriers. We expect that our results will improve the understanding of microscopic processes in surface and interface superconductivity, and will open a new way of engineering atomic-scale superconducting quantum devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2019

Tunable quantum critical point and detached superconductivity in Al-doped CrAs

The origin of unconventional superconductivity and its relationship to a T = 0 K quantum critical point (QCP), which is hidden inside the dome of a superconducting state, have long been an outstanding puzzle in strongly correlated superconductors. The observation and tuning of the hidden QCP, which is key to resolving the mystery, however, has been rarely reported. Here we report the controlling of a hidden QCP in the helical antiferromagnet CrAs and separation of the tuned QCP from the pressure-induced superconducting phase. The Al doping in CrAs increases the antiferromagnetic ordering temperature T N from 265 to 275 K, while it suppresses the QCP from 8 to 4.5 kbar. Pressure-induced superconductivity in the high-pressure regime is almost independent of Al doping, but superconductivity below 6 kbar is suppressed, revealing the clear separation between the tuned antiferromagnetic QCP and T c maximum. These discoveries illustrate subtleties in the interplay between superconductivity and quantum criticality and warrant a deeper insight in understanding of unconventional superconductivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Superconductivity in type-II Weyl-semimetal WTe 2 induced by a normal metal contact

WTe 2 is a material with rich topological properties: it is a 2D topological insulator as a monolayer and a Weyl-semimetal and higher-order topological insulator in a bulk form. Inducing superconductivity in topological materials is a way to obtain topological superconductivity, which lays at the foundation for many proposals of fault tolerant quantum computing. Here, we demonstrate the emergence of superconductivity at the interface between WTe 2 and the normal metal palladium. The superconductivity has a critical temperature of about 1.2 K. By studying the superconductivity in a perpendicular magnetic field, we obtain the coherence length and the London penetration depth. These parameters correspond to a low Fermi velocity and a high density of states at the Fermi level. This hints to a possible origin of superconductivity due to the formation of flatbands. Furthermore, the critical in-plane magnetic field exceeds the Pauli limit, suggesting a non-trivial nature of the superconducting state.

Kononov, Artem↗

DOE OSTI2022

Investigating the limits of superconductivity in UTe 2

Abstract Spin-triplet bulk superconductors are a promising route to topological superconductivity, and UTe 2 is a recently discovered contender. The superconducting properties of UTe 2 , however, vary substantially as a function of the synthetic route, and even nonsuperconducting single crystals have been reported. To understand the driving mechanism suppressing superconductivity, we investigate UTe 2 single crystals grown close to the nonsuperconducting boundary (growth temperature ∼710 ∘ C) through a combination of thermodynamic and x-ray diffraction measurements. Specific heat measurements reveal a sharp decrease in the superconducting volume and a concomitant increase in the residual specific heat coefficient close to the nonsuperconducting boundary. Notably, these crystals are inhomogeneous and show an apparent double transition in specific heat measurements, similar to samples grown at much higher temperatures (∼1000 ∘ C). Our single crystal x-ray diffraction measurements reveal that there are two important tuning parameters: uranium vacancies and the atomic displacement along the c axis, which shows a twofold increase in samples with a reduced superconducting volume. Our results highlight the key role of local disorder along the uranium-uranium dimers and suggest that the apparent double superconducting transition is more likely to emerge close to the superconducting limits of UTe 2 .

Weiland, A. (ORCID:0000000171983559)↗

DOE OSTI2025

Anomalous superconductivity in twisted MoTe 2 nanojunctions

Introducing superconductivity in topological materials can lead to innovative electronic phases and device functionalities. Here, we present a unique strategy for quantum engineering of superconducting junctions in moiré materials through direct, on-chip, and fully encapsulated 2D crystal growth. We achieve robust and designable superconductivity in Pd-metalized twisted bilayer molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe 2 ) and observe anomalous superconducting effects in high-quality junctions across ~20 moiré cells. Unexpectedly, the junction develops enhanced, instead of weakened, superconducting behaviors, exhibiting fluctuations to a higher critical magnetic field compared to its adjacent Pd 7 MoTe 2 superconductor. In addition, the critical current further exhibits a notable V-shaped minimum at zero magnetic field. These features are unexpected in conventional Josephson junctions and absent in junctions of natural bilayer MoTe 2 created using the same approach. We discuss implications of these observations, including the possible formation of mixed even- and odd-parity superconductivity at the moiré junctions. Our results also demonstrate a pathway to engineer and investigate superconductivity in fractional Chern insulators.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗

DOE OSTI2024

A Mechanically Tuned Superconducting Main Injector Cavity

Radio Frequency (RF) superconductivity has been a mainstay of accelerator science for decades. However, its benefits have yet to be applied to proton synchrotrons with demanding tuning requirements. For example, the Main Injector (MI), Fermilab's high-energy proton synchrotron, currently utilizes 20+ ferrite-loaded cavities for a targeted 1.2 s acceleration cycle. Harnessing the extremely high gradients associated with superconductivity, the required number of cavities could be reduced by an order of magnitude, dramatically lowering operational power requirements even with cryogenic considerations. Additionally, the current plans for the Fermilab Accelerator Complex Evolution (ACE) initiative involve almost doubling the number of cavities in MI if the same designs are to be used, further highlighting the potential benefits of superconductivity. These advantages are attractive, but to date, no tunable superconducting cavity suitable for MI has been proposed due to the incompatibility of conventional broadband tuning methods with superconductivity. Here, we present a tunable superconducting cavity concept capable of record-breaking performance. Tuning will be accomplished by using high-speed linear actuators to vary the insertion depth of metallic plungers into the cavity volume. This tuning concept is theoretically viable with currently available technology and will be fully compatible with a superconducting cavity.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Impact of Annealing on Superconducting Properties of Tantalum Thin Films

The pursuit for higher-coherence superconducting qubits has led to the adoption of new materials and innovative fabrication techniques. Among the commonly used superconducting materials, tantalum-based or tantalum-capped superconducting qubits have demonstrated the longest lifetimes, outperforming niobium devices even in the presence of their native oxides. Given the losses introduced by the surface oxide, one method to further improve performance is to reduce or eliminate the native oxide on tantalum through UHV annealing. In this work, we examine the effect of dissolved oxygen as a function of annealing temperature on the superconducting properties of tantalum thin films. Dissolved oxygen is quantified using atom probe tomography (APT) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) and correlated with electromagnetic transport measurements performed using a Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS). This study observes that annealing decomposes the native oxide and drives oxygen diffusion into the film matrix. Increasing oxygen content decreases the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and the residual resistivity ratio (RRR). The critical field decreases with the incorporation of oxygen, while the film’s coherence length decreases relatively by 5%. These results, as well as findings from ongoing studies linking fabrication processes to the structural and chemical properties of the superconducting film and Josephson junction, provide insight into effective strategies for improving the performance of superconducting devices.

Shinde, Maithilee [IIT, Chicago; Fermilab]↗

DOE OSTI2023

Advancements in High-Q development for novel medium-velocity 644 MHz 5-cell elliptical superconducting RF cavities for continuous-wave operation in heavy-ion linacs

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams is a world-leading center for experimental nuclear physics research, and relies on a first-in-kind superconducting RF driver linac to supply 400 kW beams of a uniquely large range of particles, from protons through the heaviest uranium ions. The FRIB400 project proposes to double the end energy of the current superconducting FRIB linac for the heaviest uranium ions from 200 MeV per nucleon (MeV/u) to 400 MeV/u, which equates to approximately 1 GeV for protons. The increased rare isotope production from higher-energy drive beams would deliver new and exciting capabilities to FRIB users, which include extending the facility's reach along the neutron drip-line, greatly increasing the facility's rare isotope yield, and significantly improving the precision of parameter measurements for the nuclear matter equation of state, which is a particularly timely complement to the recent advent of multi-messenger astronomy, and the study of neutron star mergers. The unique set of design parameters defined by the 400 MeV/u (uranium) energy goal, the physical size, continuous-wave operation, and cryogenic capacity of the extant facilities at FRIB, requires development of a first-in-kind beta = v/c = 0.65, 644 MHz 5-cell elliptical superconducting RF (SRF) cavity, with field-leading efficiency, measured by the cavity's intrinsic quality factor, Q_0. The field of SRF has recently experienced a very active period of development, which demonstrated the potential to raise the Q_0 of 1.3 GHz cavities by factors of two to three or more. In addition to uncovering fascinating new properties of the fundamental physics of superconducting RF phenomena, these improvements suggest substantial improvements could be made over the minimum Q_0 of the proposed FRIB400 upgrade SRF cavities, if these new techniques can be adapted to the beta = 0.65, 644 MHz regime. This work presents the first validation of the the novel beta = 0.65, 644 MHz 5-cell elliptical superconducting RF cavity design, and the first results of both conventional and advanced RF surface preparation techniques. In particular, this work focuses on two recently-developed high-Q_0 recipes: N-doping, and furnace baking, setting the current world-record Q_0 for this type of resonant cavity at 3.8 x 10^10 at the FRIB400 operating gradient of 17.5 MV/m. We also find evidence that these results may be further improved upon, and make the case for further RF surface preparation recipe optimization. We then pair these high-power RF investigations with techniques borrowed from material science to try to better understand the ways in which specific properties of the niobium material, such as grain structure and superconducting flux pinning force, can be related to its superconducting RF performance. These experiments better elucidate the effects of high-temperature annealing on niobium samples, which suggest methods of further optimizing cavity flux expulsion and thus SRF performance.Read

McGee, Kellen E.↗

DOE OSTI2019

Compact, Low-Cost, Light-Weight, Superconducting, Ironless Cyclotrons for Hadron Radiotherapy

Superconducting cyclotrons are increasingly employed for proton beam radiotherapy treatment (PBRT). The use of superconductivity in a cyclotron design can reduce its mass by an order of magnitude and size by a factor of 3-4 over conventional resistive magnet technology, yielding significant reduction in overall cost of the device, the accelerator vault, and its infrastructure, as well as reduced operating costs. At MIT, previous work was focused on developing a very high field (9 T at the pole face) superconducting synchrocyclotron that resulted in a highly compact device that is about an order of magnitude lighter, and much smaller in diameter than a conventional, resistive cyclotron. The results of the study reported here were focused on a conceptual design for a compact superconducting synchrocyclotron to demonstrate the possibility to further reduce its weight by almost another order of magnitude by eliminating all iron from the device. In the absence of magnetic iron poles, the magnetic field profile in the beam gap is achieved through a set of main superconducting split pair coils energized in series with a set of distributed field-shaping superconducting coils. External magnetic field shielding is achieved through a set of outer, superconducting ring coils, also connected in series with the other coils, to cancel the stray magnetic field. These shielding coils replace the heavy iron yoke which is the conventional method to return the magnetic flux. It is noted that the 10 Gauss surface is located at a radius of about 3.5 m comparable in both ironless and conventional devices, even in the absence of iron in the ironless device. An important result from eliminating all magnetic iron in the flux circuit is the resulting linear relationship between the operating current and the magnetic field intensity. In the case with iron, the saturation of the magnetic field forces operation at one value of magnetic field. This feature design then enables continuous beam energy variation without the use of an energy degrader, thus eliminating secondary radiation during the in-depth beam scanning, increasing the ion current delivered to the patient and improving the beam quality. The beam energy is determined by the magnetic field strength at the extraction radius, and changing the field enables selection of the final beam energy. The magnetic field can be adjusted while maintaining the needed radial field profile.

Minervini, Joseph V.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Superconductivity in the Sn-Ba-Sr-Y-Cu-O system

Since Bednorz and Muller discovered high-T(sub c) superconductivity in the La-Ba-Cu-O compound, several families of superconducting oxides have been synthesized. Here, researchers report the results of search for superconductivity in the compounds based on tin, which has a lone electron pair like Bi, Tl, Pb. The following compounds were synthesized: Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3Ox, Sn1Ba1Ca1Cu3Ox, Sn1Ba1Mg1Cu3Ox, Sn1Sr1Ca1Cu3Ox, Sn1Sr1Mg1Cu3Ox, Sn1Ca1Mg1Cu3Ox. The initial components were oxides and carbonates of the appropriate elements. Standard firing-grinding procedure was used. Final heating was carried out at 960 C during 12 hours. Then the samples were cooled inside the furnace. All the synthesis cycles were carried out in air atmosphere. Among the synthesized compounds only Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3Ox showed remarkable conductivity. Other compounds were practically dielectrics. Presence of a possible superconductivity in Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3Ox was defined by using the Meissner effect. At low temperature a deviation from paramagnetic behavior is observed. The hysteresis loops obtained at lower temperatures undoubtly testify to the presence of a superconductive phase in the sample. However, the part of the superconductive phase in the Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3Ox ceramic turned out to be small, less than 2 percent, which agrees with the estimation from magnetic data. In order to increase the content of the superconductive phase two-valent cations Ba, Sr were partially substituted by univalent (K) and three-valent ones (Y).

Aleksandrov, K. S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Superconductivity applications for infrared and microwave devices; Proceedings of the Meeting, Orlando, FL, Apr. 19, 20, 1990

Various papers on superconductivity applications for IR and microwave devices are presented. The individual topics addressed include: pulsed laser deposition of Tl-Ca-Ba-Cu-O films, patterning of high-Tc superconducting thin films on Si substrates, IR spectra and the energy gap in thin film YBa2Cu3O(7-delta), high-temperature superconducting thin film microwave circuits, novel filter implementation utilizing HTS materials, high-temperature superconductor antenna investigations, high-Tc superconducting IR detectors, high-Tc superconducting IR detectors from Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films, Y-Ba-Cu0-O thin films as high-speed IR detectors, fabrication of a high-Tc superconducting bolometer, transition-edge microbolometer, photoresponse of YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) granular and epitaxial superconducting thin films, fast IR response of YBCO thin films, kinetic inductance effects in high-Tc microstrip circuits at microwave frequencies.

Bhasin, Kul B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Superconductivity in the Sn-Ba-Sr-Y-Cu-O system

After the discovery of high-T(sub c) superconductivity in the La-Ba-Cu-O compound, several families of superconducting oxides were synthesized. Here, researchers report the results of the search for superconductivity in the compounds based on tin which has a lone electron pair like Bi, Tl, and Pb. The following compounds were synthesized: Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Ba1Ca1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Ba1Mg1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Sr1Ca1Cu3O(sub x), Sn1Sr1Mg1Cu3O(sub x), and Sn1Ca1Mg1Cu3O(sub x). The initial components were oxides and carbonates of the appropriate elements. A standard firing-grinding procedure was used. Final heating was carried out at 960 C during 12 hours. Then the samples were cooled inside the furnace. All the synthesis cycles were carried out in air atmosphere. Among the synthesized compounds only Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x) showed remarkable conductivity. Other compounds were practically dielectrics. Presence of a possible superconductivity in Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x) was defined by using the Meissner effect. At low temperature a deviation from paramagnetic behavior is observed. The hysteresis loops obtained at lower temperature undoubtly testify to the presence of a superconductive phase in the sample. However, the part of the superconductive phase in the Sn1Ba1Sr1Cu3O(sub x) ceramic turned out to be small, less than 2 percent, which agrees with the estimation from magnetic data. In order to increase the content of the superconductive phase, two-valent cations Ba and Sr were partially substituted by univalent (K) and three-valent ones (Y).

Aleksandrov, K. S.↗