The achievement of large critical currents is critical to the applications of high-temperature superconductors. Recent developments have shown that melt processing is suitable for producing high Jc oxide superconductors. Using magnetic forces between such high Jc oxide superconductors and magnets, a person could be levitated.This book has grown largely out of research works on melt processing of high-temperature superconductors conducted at ISTEC Superconductivity Research Laboratory. The chapters build on melt processing, microstructural characterization, fundamentals of flux pinning, critical current, and applications of bulk monolithic superconductors. The text also describes the basic mechanism of levitation and its application. This book will be useful for research workers, engineers, and graduate students in the field of superconductivity.List of Authors: H Fujimoto, S Gotoh, T Izumi; N Koshizuka, K Miya, M Murakami, N Nakamura, Y Nakamura, Y Shiohara, H Takaichi, T Taguchi, M Uesaka, H W Weber, K Yamaguchi.

Included in this volume are papers on biaxial and triaxial crystallographic texturing, epitaxial growth on biaxially textured substrates, melt-processing of YBCO, and basic information about HTS materials concerning phase diagrams, measurement of physical properties, characterization, and effects of various defects including grain boundaries on supercurrent transmission. Proceedings of the symposium held at the 104th Annual Meeting of The American Ceramic Society, April 28-May1, 2002 in Missouri; Ceramic Transactions, Volume 140.

Since the 1980s, a general theme in the study of high-temperature superconductors has been to test the BCS theory and its predictions against new data. At the same time, this process has engendered new physics, new materials, and new theoretical frameworks. Remarkable advances have occurred in sample quality and in single crystals, in hole and electron doping in the development of sister compounds with lower transition temperatures, and in instruments to probe structure and dynamics. Handbook of High-Temperature Superconductvity is a comprehensive and in-depth treatment of both experimental and theoretical methodologies by the the world's top leaders in the field. The Editor, Nobel Laureate J. Robert Schrieffer, and Associate Editor James S. Brooks, have produced a unified, coherent work providing a global view of high-temperature superconductivity covering the materials, the relationships with heavy-fermion and organic systems, and the many formidable challenges that remain.

In contrast to research on the fundamental mechanisms of High-Temperature Superconductivity, in recent years we have seen enormous developments in the fabrication and application of High-Tc-superconductors. The two volumes of High Temperature Superconductivity provide a survey of the state of the technology and engineering applications of these materials. They comprise extended original research papers and technical review articles written by physicists, chemists, materials scientists and engineers, all of them noted experts in their fields. The interdisciplinary and strictly application-oriented coverage should benefit graduate students and academic researchers in the mentioned areas as well as industrial experts. Volume 1 "Materials" focuses on major technical advancements in High-Tc materials processing for applications. Volume 2 "Engineering Applications" covers numerous application areas where High-Tc superconductors are making tremendous impact.

This book presents the current knowledge about superconductivity in high Tc cuprate superconductors. There is a large scientific interest and great potential for technological applications. The book discusses all the aspects related to all families of cuprate superconductors discovered so far. Beginning with the phenomenon of superconductivity, the book covers: the structure of cuprate HTSCs, critical currents, flux pinning, synthesis of HTSCs, proximity effect and SQUIDs, possible applications of high Tc superconductors and theories of superconductivity. Though a high Tc theory is still awaited, this book describes the present scenario and BCS and RVB theories. The second edition was significantly extended by including film-substrate lattice matching and buffer layer considerations in thin film HTSCs, brick-wall microstructure in the epitaxial films, electronic structure of the CuO2 layer in cuprates, s-wave and d-wave coupling in HTSCs and possible scenarios of theories of high Tc superconductivity.

The discovery by J. G. Bednorz and K. A. Mtllier in 1986 that the superconducting state can exist in oxides at temperatures above 30 K stimulated research in the field of superconductivity and opened up a new field of research. Within a few years a large number of cuprate superconductors with transition temperatures well above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen have been found. The possibility of using liquid nitrogen as coolant re-stimulated interest in power applications of supercon ductivity. In this book an overview of the known high-Te superconductors and their physical properties is presented. Aspects related to conductor fabrication and high-current applications are emphasised. The material should be suitable for use in graduate level courses on superconductivity. Researchers in the field may profit from the large number of tables and references describing its status at the end of 1997. An introduction to high-To superconductivity must be based on the fundamental physical principles of normal-state electrical conductivity and the well-known characteristics of conventional superconductors. In Chapter 2 this background is provided. Crystal structures, anisotropic properties and general trends of the critical temperatures of the cuprate superconductors are described in Chapters 3 and 4. The processing of superconductor powders addressed in Chapter 5 affects considerably the current-carrying capacity of high-T. wires. In Chapter 6 several fabrication techniques for superconducting wires are described. In addition, the factors limiting the transport critical currents ofhigh-Te wires are discussed.

This thesis introduces a systematic study on Second Generation (2G) High Temperature Superconductors (HTS), covering a novel design of an advanced medical imaging device using HTS, and an in-depth investigation on the losses of HTS. The text covers the design and simulation of a superconducting Lorentz Force Electrical Impedance Tomography. This is potentially a significant medical device that is more efficient and compact than an MRI, and is capable of detecting early cancer, as well as other pathologies such stroke and internal haemorrhages. It also presents the information regarding the fundamental physics of superconductivity, concentrating on the AC losses in superconducting coils and tapes. Overall, the thesis signifies an important contribution to the investigation of High Temperature Superconductors. This thesis will be beneficial to the development of advanced superconducting applications in healthcare as well as more broadly in electrical and energy systems.