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Characterization and Application of Superconducting Materials

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 March 2024) | Viewed by 3680

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Kévin Berger

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Guest Editor

GREEN, Université de Lorraine, F-54000 Nancy, France
Interests: high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables for railway network; magnetization and characterization of HTS bulks; pulsed magnetization; multiphysics modeling; design of electrical engineering applications using HTS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Frederic Trillaud

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Guest Editor

Instituto de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de Mexico 04350, Mexico
Interests: multiphysics modeling of high-temperature superconductors for power components (cables, fault-current limiters, and power filters); magnetization of HTS bulks; superconducting electromagnets for physics instruments

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent advances in the field of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) open up new prospects for meeting the challenges, expectations, and markets of tomorrow's societies, mainly thanks to their reduced production costs, enhanced electromagnetic performance (> 20 T), and higher operating temperatures (from hydrogen to liquid nitrogen) than low-temperature superconductors. However, there are still many key issues regarding their reliability in practical applications dealing with their transient electromagnetic, thermal, and mechanical behavior. The first key issue is related to the loss of the superconducting state. This loss of the superconducting state can lead to permanent damage as the superconductor can experience a thermal runaway or quench. The second key issue is a combination of the limited production length and the variability of the superconducting properties in the case of the second generation of superconductors (REBCO).

There is a large variety of commercial superconductors to choose from supplied by manufacturers, each with different qualities. The choice of the HTS then depends on the requirements of a given application. Therefore, accurate knowledge of the characteristics of the superconductor and its actual performance is of paramount importance in the design of the HTS device, balancing the technological benefits with the initial investment and the operating costs.

In view of the above, this Special Issue aims to provide quality papers presenting new perspectives on the advances in the understanding, characterization, and innovative applications of high-temperature superconductors.

Dr. Kévin Berger
Prof. Dr. Frederic Trillaud
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

characterization methods of HTS
applications of HTS
electromagnetic, mechanical, and thermal analysis of HTS
advanced material manufacturing for dedicated applications

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1140 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Upper Critical Field and Tunneling Spectroscopy of Underdoped Na(Fe,Co)As Single Crystals

by Leonid Morgun, Svetoslav Kuzmichev, Igor Morozov, Alena Degtyarenko, Andrey Sadakov, Andrey Shilov, Ilya Zhuvagin, Yevgeny Rakhmanov and Tatiana Kuzmicheva

Materials 2023, 16(19), 6421; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16196421 - 27 Sep 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 808

Abstract

A comprehensive study of superconducting properties of underdoped NaFe

_{0.979}

_{0.021}

As single crystals by a combination of upper critical field measurements and incoherent multiple Andreev reflection effect (IMARE) spectroscopy is presented. The

H_{c 2} (T)

temperature dependences are [...] Read more.

A comprehensive study of superconducting properties of underdoped NaFe

_{0.979}

_{0.021}

As single crystals by a combination of upper critical field measurements and incoherent multiple Andreev reflection effect (IMARE) spectroscopy is presented. The

H_{c 2} (T)

temperature dependences are measured at magnetic fields up to 16 T with in-plane and out-of-plane field directions and considered within single-band and two-band models in order to estimate the

H_{c 2} (0)

value. In IMARE spectroscopy probes, the magnitude, characteristic ratio, and temperature dependence of the superconducting order parameters (

Δ_{L, S} (T)

) are determined locally and directly. A possible k-space anisotropy of the large superconducting gap is demonstrated. We show that usage of a quadruple of

λ_{i j}^{0}

coupling constants obtained in the IMARE experiment can significantly reduce the number of free parameters required to fit the

H_{c 2} (T)

dependence within a two-band approach (from six to two). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characterization and Application of Superconducting Materials)

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23 pages, 5145 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

High-Pressure Synthesis and the Enhancement of the Superconducting Properties of FeSe_0.5Te_0.5

by Mohammad Azam, Manasa Manasa, Tatiana Zajarniuk, Ryszard Diduszko, Tomasz Cetner, Andrzej Morawski, Jarosław Więckowski, Andrzej Wiśniewski and Shiv J. Singh

Materials 2023, 16(15), 5358; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16155358 - 30 Jul 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1747

Abstract

A series of FeSe_0.5Te_0.5 bulk samples have been prepared using the high gas pressure and high-temperature synthesis (HP-HTS) method to optimize the growth conditions for the first time and investigated for their superconducting properties using structural, microstructure, transport, and magnetic measurements to reach the final conclusions. Ex situ and in situ processes are used to prepare bulk samples under a range of growth pressures using Ta-tube and without Ta-tube. The parent compound synthesized by convenient synthesis method at ambient pressure (CSP) exhibits a superconducting transition temperature of 14.8 K. Our data demonstrate that the prepared FeSe_0.5Te_0.5 sealed in a Ta-tube is of better quality than the samples without a Ta-tube, and the optimum growth conditions (500 MPa, 600 °C for 1 h) are favorable for the development of the tetragonal FeSe_0.5Te_0.5 phase. The optimum bulk FeSe_0.5Te_0.5 depicts a higher transition temperature of 17.3 K and a high critical current density of the order of >10⁴ A/cm² at 0 T, which is improved over the entire magnetic field range and almost twice higher than the parent compound prepared using CSP. Our studies confirm that the high-pressure synthesis method is a highly efficient way to improve the superconducting transition, grain connectivity, sample density, and pinning properties of a superconductor. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characterization and Application of Superconducting Materials)

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Other

Jump to: Research

16 pages, 1509 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

On Thermal and Electrodynamic Aspects of the Superconductive Transition Process

by J. E. Hirsch

Materials 2024, 17(1), 254; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma17010254 - 3 Jan 2024

Viewed by 572

Abstract

In a classic paper of 1960, W. H. Cherry and J. I. Gittleman discussed various thermal and electrodynamic aspects of the superconductive transition process relevant to practical applications. In a section of the paper that has remained unnoticed, they proposed a physical model for the Meissner effect. Earlier in 1940–1943, in work that has also remained unnoticed, K. M. Koch had introduced related physical ideas to explain the Meissner effect. Still earlier in 1937, J. C. Slater proposed a model to explain the perfect diamagnetism of superconductors. None of these ideas are part of the conventional London-BCS understanding of superconductivity, yet I will argue that they are essential to understand the Meissner effect, the most fundamental property of superconductors. The unconventional theory of hole superconductivity unifies and extends these ideas. A key missing element in the conventional theory as well as in these early theories is electron-hole asymmetry. A proper understanding of the Meissner effect may help with practical applications of superconductors, as well as to find new superconducting materials with desirable properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characterization and Application of Superconducting Materials)

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