Bubbles are blocking the current path of one of the most promising high temperature superconducting materials, new research suggests.
In a study published today, Monday, 16 may, in IOP Publishing's journal Superconductor Science and Technology, researchers have examined bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox, Bi2212) – one of the most promising superconducting materials capable of creating large magnetic fields way beyond the limit of existing magnets – and found that its capabilities are limited by the formation of bubbles during its fabrication process.
Bi2212 is the only high temperature superconductor capable of being made into round wire, providing the preferred flexibility in magnet construction, and giving it potential uses in medical imaging and particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
For magnet applications, these wires must exhibit a high critical current density - the current density at which electrical resistance develops - and sustain it under large magnetic fields. This remains a stumbling block for utilising the huge potential of Bi2212 in the magnet technology as compellingly high critical current densities have not yet been achieved.
