TcSUH
Special Seminar
Fabrication and Characterization of Superconducting Bi-2223/Ag Tapes with High Critical Current Densities in km Lengths
by: Dr. Zhenghe Han
Date: Monday September 21, 1998
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
High critical current density, long-length Bi-2223/Ag tapes are needed for large-scale applications. I will describe our recent results reaching critical current densities of 23 kA/cm2 and engineering critical current densities of 5.2 kA/cm2 at 77 K over the whole length of 1250 m Bi-2223/Ag tapes. To our knowledge, this is the highest critical current density reported for Bi-2223/Ag tapes longer than 1 km. Detailed measurements of the critical current over the 1250 m tape by both the conventional four-probe method and a specially developed continuous measurement of the remanent field by Hall probes will be reported. Various Ag alloy sheathed Bi-2223 tapes have been made by our standard production line. The approach for improving the homogeneity and considerations to be made in processing and handling the long tape will be presented. Electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of our Ag alloy sheathed tapes, including Ag-Au alloy sheathed tapes, will also be described.
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Special Seminar
Al-Cu Approximates in the Al3Cu4 Alloy
by: Prof. Chuang Dong
Date: Thursday September 03, 1998
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
In the binary alloy systems constituting the ternary Al-Cu-TM (transition metal) quasicrystalline systems, many metastable quasicrystals have been found in Al-rich Al-TM systems, but little has been done in the Al-Cu system. The latter system has been addressed only recently because the only Al-rich Al-Cu phase is the non-approximate Al2Cu phase. The present talk will report on an investigation of the Al3Cu4 alloy, with an e/a ratio of 1.86, close to ternary Al-Cu-TM quasicrystals, in the search for Al-Cu approximates. Principal results include: 1) two new phases, a face-centered orthorhombic oF-Al43.2Cu56.8 (a = 0.8166, b = 1.4149, c = 0.9995 nm) and a body-centered orthorhombic oI-Al41.3Cu58.7 (oI, a = 0.4083, b = 0.7074, c = 0.9995 nm), were found; 2) the twinning modes of these phases suggest that they are the decomposition products of a high-temperature parent phase e2-Al2Cu3, the atomic structure of which contains pentagonal atomic arrangements; and 3) the chemical-twinning mode of their basic structure B2 is 180[deg]/<111>, which is responsible for the pentagonal atomic configuration in the Al-Cu approximates as well as for the pseudo 5-fold B2 twinning.
Some preliminary friction tests on such B2-based approximates show that these phases have friction behaviors similar to those of quasicrystals.
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Special Seminar
Normal and Superconducting Properties of Fermi System with Non-Degenerate Component: A Model for High-[Tc] Cuprates
by: Dr. George A. Levin
Date: Wednesday August 19, 1998
Time: 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
Many of the anomalies of the normal and superconducting state properties of the cuprates and their evolution with doping, from underdoped to optimally to overdoped regime, can be understood within the framework of a two-component model, one of which is conventional degenerate and the other, non-degenerate. The non-degenerate component appears when the Fermi surface of a conventional band is brought by tuning the stoichiometry in the vicinity of the top of another, submerged below the Fermi level, quasi-two-dimensional band. In the underdoped regime the excitations in the submerged band manifest themselves as a pseudogap, evident in the spin susceptibility, specific heat, tunneling conductances, resistivity, and Hall coefficient. The pseudogap vanishes with increasing doping, but the presence of the submerged band strongly affects the properties of the optimally and overdoped systems as well.
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Special Seminar
Large Increases in Jc of Textured HTS via Radiation Damage
Date: Friday July 31, 1998
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
Jc is limited by motion of magnetic fluxoids. Pinning these fluxoids in place greatly increases Jc. Successful pinning centers have been produced by chemical, mechanical, and radiation techniques. The radiation methods which have been used include high Z ion beams, protons, neutrons, fusion of 6Li with neutrons followed by 7Li decay, and fission of U by neutrons (the U/n method).
I will address the U/n method and results to date. A detailed study of YBCO is reported, plus introductory studies of NdBCO, SmBCO, and BiSCCO. In YBCO increases in Jc by factors of 15-40 are obtained. In BiSCCO, increases in Jc by a factor of 20 are seen (in the high field regime), the irreversibility is approximately doubled, and the anisotropy is decreased by a factor of 8.
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Special Seminar
Status and Perspectives of HTS Superconducting Electronics
by: Dr. Alex Braginski
Date: Thursday July 30, 1998
Time: 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102
Overview
The purpose of this talk is to give a realistic assessment of the status of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) electronics R&D and of the market impact of HTS's. Cryogenics, with issues of handling, reliability, and cost, remain the prime obstacle to acceptance by potential users. The advent of HTS's stimulated exaggerated and unrealistic hopes for quick and major developments, including market penetration. Indeed, technical developments have been most impressive and I will highlight the most pertinent of these. However, realistic time scales for complete development cycles (including industrially viable prototypes) can be longer than a decade. For any market, an attractive cost/benefit ratio must be convincingly demonstrated first. Only (1) HTS filter systems integrated with cryocoolers for cellular telecommunication and (2) HTS SQUID magnetometers have been developed to the point of potential or existing commercial availability. Even here, further R&D activity is required, e.g. for better product acceptance. In the case of (1), economic factors will define the market future and size within the next few years, with relatively firm prospects for satellite implementation and good possibilities for terrestrial base stations. In the case of (2), the development of new applications, especially in medical diagnostics, nondestructive materials evaluation, geophysical exploration, etc., might cause growing user acceptance. Prototypes of precision measuring HTS instruments (e.g. programmable voltage standards or D/A converters) might also emerge soon. LTS and HTS digital signal processors and switches might represent the biggest long-term future, e.g. in telecommunication, but only after semiconductor electronics hit their intrinsic physical barriers. Also, the VLSI/ULSI level must first be attained by superconducting digital (e.g. RSFQ) circuit technology. Within the next decade, all of the above and other electronic applications might conquer market niches, some of them sizable.
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