Earticle

We calculated the resonance tunneling energy band in the BCS gap for Type-II superconductor in which periodic potential is generated by external magnetic flux. In this model, penetrating magnetic flux was assumed to be in a fixed lattice state which is not moving by an external force. We observed the existence of two subbands when we used the same parameters as for the Nd1.85Ce0.15CuOx thin film experiment. The voltages at which the regions of negative differential resistivity (NDR) started after the resonant tunneling ended were in a good agreement with the experimental data in the field region of 1 T - 2.2 T, but not in the high field regions. Discrepancy occurred in the high field region is considered to be caused by that the potential barrier could not be maintained because the current induced by resonant tunneling exceeds the superconducting critical current. In order to have better agreement in the low field region, more concrete designing of the potential rather than a simple square well used in the calculation might be needed. Based on this result, we can predict an occurrence of the electromagnetic radiation of as much difference of energy caused by the 2nd order resonant tunneling in which electrons transit from the 2nd band to the 1st band in the potential wells.

The influence of quenching temperature, heating atmosphere and annealing time on superconducting characteristics has been studied for LuBa2Cu3O7-z compound which has been recently synthesized in a nearly phase-pure form. Resistivity measurements for the as-prepared sample heated at 300 °C in oxygen and subsequently quenched into liquid nitrogen revealed that there is no significant change in Tc. On the other hand, Tc of the sample slightly increased when the sample was heated at 300 °C either in air or in N2 atmosphere. It was also found that Tc of the sample decreased when the annealing temperature in N2 atmosphere increased above 400 °C. The experimental results indicated that the as-prepared sample is under overdoped state. The enhanced superconducting transition observed in the samples after heating at 300 °C in air or N2 atmosphere was discussed in conjunction with a slight removal of oxygen and ordering of oxygen atoms in the as-prepared sample.

Effects of neutron irradiation on the superconducting properties of the undoped MgB2 and the carbon(C)-doped MgB2 bulk superconductors, prepared by an in situ reaction process using Mg and B powder, were investigated. The prepared MgB2 samples were neutron-irradiated at the neutron fluence of 1016-1018 n/cm2 in a Hanaro nuclear reactor of KAERI involving both fast and thermal neutron. The magnetic moment-temperature (M-T) and magnetization-magnetic field (M-H) curves before/after irradiation were obtained using magnetic property measurement system (MPMS). The superconducting critical temperature (Tc) and transition width were estimated from the M-T curves and critical current density (Jc) was estimated from the M-H curves using a Bean’s critical model. The Tcs of the undoped MgB2 and C-doped MgB2 before irradiation were 36.9-37.0 K and 36.6-36.8 K, respectively. The Tcs decreased to 33.2 K and 31.6 K, respectively after irradiation at neutron fluence of 7.16×1017 n/cm2, and decreased to 22.6 K and 24.0 K, respectively, at 3.13×1018 n/cm2. The Jc cross-over was observed at the high magnetic field of 5.2 T for the undoped MgB2 irradiated at 7.16×1017 n/cm2. The Tc and Jc variation after the neutron irradiation at various neutron fluences were explained in terms of the defect formation in the superconducting matrix by neutron irradiation.

The mechanical, electrical and thermal characteristics of insulating materials may significantly affect the performance and reliability of electrical devices using superconductors. General method to provide insulating layer between coated conductors is wrapping coated conductor with Kapton tape. But uniform and compact wrapping without failure or delamination in whole coverage for long length conductor is not a simple task and need careful control. Coating of insulating layer directly on coated conductor is desirable for providing compact insulating layer rather than wrapping insulating layers around conductor. Ceramic added polymer has been widely used as an insulating material for electric machine because of its good electrical insulating properties as well as excellent heat resistance and fairy good mechanical properties. The insulating layer of coated conductor should have high breakdown voltage and possesses suitable mechanical strength and maintain adhesiveness at the cryogenic temperature where it is used and withstand stress from thermal cycling. The insulating and mechanical properties of polymer can be improved by adding functional filler. In this study, insulating layer has been made by adding ceramic particles such as SiO2 to a polymer resin. The size, amount and morphology of added ceramic powder was controlled and their effect on dielectric property of the final composite was measured and discussed for optimum composite fabrication.

The effects of Mg content on the pore formation, density and critical properties were investigated in in-situ reacted MgB2 superconductors. The Mg1+xB2, (x=-0.2, 0.0, 0.05, 0.3, 1.0) bulk samples with different Mg contents were heat-treated at 900°C for 1 h in an Ar atmosphere. The dimensional changes of a pellet's mass and volume after heat-treatment were measured. After heat-treatment process, the sample mass was decreased by Mg evaporation, but the sample volume was expanded by pore formation at the Mg site; therefore, the apparent density was decreased. Spherical pores the same as Mg particles were developed after heat-treatment in all samples, and the pore density was increased with increasing Mg content. As the x of Mg content was increased to 1.0, the apparent density of Mg1+xB2 samples was decreased due to a relatively larger reduction in a mass change. The critical current density of Mg excessive sample of x=0.05 showed the highest values over the applied magnetic fields because the excessive Mg may compensate Mg loss and enhance grain connectivity.

This paper represents the detection method of voltage disturbance for high temperature superconducting (HTS) tape using electromagnetically coupled coils. In order to detect the voltage as the superconductor transits from the superconducting state to the normal conduction state, voltage taps are widely used to get the voltage signal. And voltage taps are connected to data acquisition device via signal wires. However this new suggested method can detect the superconducting transition voltage without signal wires between voltage taps and data acquisition device by using electromagnetically coupled coils. This system consists of two electromagnetically coupled coils, the first coil to detect and transmit the voltage of HTS tape and the second coil to pick up the transmitted voltage from the first coil. By using this new suggested method, we can build the ‘separated voltage-detection system’. HTS tape and first coil are located under liquid nitrogen vessel and the second coil is located under room temperature condition. In this paper, experiments are performed to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. As the result of the experiment, the separated voltage-detection system using electromagnetically coupled coils can successfully observe superconducting-normal transition of HTS tapes.

2G HTS tapes are widely used for various electric machines. In addition, stacked or parallel connected HTS tapes are essentially used to raise transport current level for large capacity electric machines. Therefore, critical current characteristic of stacked tapes need to be studied. Recently developed 2G HTS tapes are fabricated with various defects doping so that tapes possess pinning center to improve the critical current characteristic. During this process, the critical current is determined minimum value in not perpendicular magnetic field but a specific magnetic field angle according to the reported research. However, the effects of magnetic field angle to critical current of multi-stacked 2G HTS tapes have not been examined. In this paper, field coil which is a race-track coil wound by using an HTS tape with iron-core was fabricated to apply angle adjustable magnetic field to the 2G HTS tape samples. We measured critical current of single and multi-stacked two tapes that have different characteristic depending on various magnetic field angle and magnitude in liquid nitrogen environment. Furthermore, results of single and multi-stacked tapes were compared and analyzed.

Recently, many researches on the system of superconducting power supply and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) using high temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes has been progressed. Those kinds of superconducting devices use the heater trigger switches that have a control delay problem at moments of heating up and cooling down. One way to reduce the time delay is using a different HTS tape at trigger part. For example, HTS tape having lower critical temperature can reduce time delay of heating up and heating down stage for heater trigger operation. This paper deals with resistances joint with different kinds of HTS tapes which have different properties to verify usefulness of the suggested method. Three kinds of commercial HTS tapes with different specifications are selected as samples and two kinds of solders are used for comparison. Joint is performed with temperature and pressure controllable joint machine and the joint characteristics are analyzed under the repeatable conditions.