Superconductivity Narratives The Players: The Applications: And the Future:

Graduate Students, Nobel and Ig Nobel prizes… Graduate Students, Nobel and Ig Nobel prizes… Subtitle: The Human side of “Table Top” Physics

Superfluidity and Superconductivity Associated with at Least Nine Nobel Prizes And Still counting …

Nobel Laureates And Possible Laureates…. L. Landau and Phil Anderson

Kammerlingh Onnes discovered superconductivity 1911

Failed Theories of Superconductivity

Bardeen Cooper Schrieffer discovered theory of superconductivity 1957 Electrons pair and do the Cooper pair “dance”

Brian Josephson Discovered Quantum Interference in Superconductors (Josephson Effect) 1964 Currently Runs Mind-Matter Unification Project

Osheroff, with Richardson and Lee discovered superfluid helium-3 in 1973 Osheroff, with Richardson and Lee discovered superfluid helium-3 in 1973

Bednorz and Muller Discovered High Temperature Superconductors 1986

The Discovery of Higher Tc Superconductors and The Paul Chu Green Superconductor Saga

The “Woodstock” American Physical Society Meeting 1987 The Human side of Physicists --all night session on High Tc superconductivity

Transition temperature vs time Key Discovery: Superconducting transition temperatures above liquid nitrogen boiling temp– cheap coolant available

Highest Transition Temperature -189 F ! Fahrenheit (oF) Kelvin (K) Centigrade (oC) Conventional Superconductors (up to ~-405 F) High- Temperature Superconductors (up to ~150K) Boiling Water Ice Liquid nitrogen Absolute Zero

WHAT IS SUPERCONDUCTIVITY ?? For superconducting materials, the resistivity vanishes at some low temperature. Thus, superconductors can carry large amounts of current with no loss of energy.

What Else Can Superconductors Do ? Expel magnetic fields: Expel magnetic fields: Meissner effect Allow a current in a closed circuit to persist indefinitely. Allow a current in a closed circuit to persist indefinitely.

The Meissner Effect Superconductors acquire a polarization OPPOSITE to an applied magnetic field. This is the reason that superconducting materials and magnets repel one another. If the temperature increases the sample will lose its superconductivity and the magnet cannot float on the superconductor. Levitation of Sumo wrestler– Ig Nobel Prize

What superfluids can do Flow without viscosity Flow without viscosity Dribble through molecule thin cracks Dribble through molecule thin cracks Climb up and over the sides of a dish Climb up and over the sides of a dish Remain motionless when the container is spun. Remain motionless when the container is spun.

19 Applications using Superconductors MRI Body scanners Accelerator magnets Magnetometers for medicine, seismography … Transport Power transmission

20 Applications using Superconductors Transport In Jan 08, the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) announced that it plans to construct a second-generation maglev train that will run from Tokyo to central Japan. Cost ~ 44.7 billion dollars Completion in 2025 Speed ~ 500 kilometers per hour Length ~ 290 kilometers

Maglev train: Superconductivity at 500 km/hr Maglev train: Superconductivity at 500 km/hr Yamanashi Test Site, Japan Yamanashi Test Site, Japan 33 km long, >500 Km/hr 33 km long, >500 Km/hr Segment of Tokyo-Osaka new line Segment of Tokyo-Osaka new line Existing Japanese MagLev train

22 Applications using Superconductors Superconducting power transmission - currently we waste ~ 20 % of our energy just transporting it around - potentially the next industrial revolution

Long Distance DC Superconducting Electricity Pipeline

MRI Uses Superconducting Magnets Closed (1-3 Tesla) and open (0.3T) MRI magnets both use Nb-Ti with a transition temperature (Tc) of only 9K, ~-450F. All are Cooled only by liquid helium until late 2006.

25 MRI - $1B annual market

Superconducting Magnetometers based on Josephson Effect

Particle Accelerators Use Superconducting magnets Superconducting Tevatron energy-saver accelerator rings west of Chicago (Batavia, IL)‏ Nb-Ti at 4.5 T, 4.2 K

27 km Tunnel Large Hadron Collider-CERN Switzerland France Mont Blanc Lake Geneva

29 Some facts about the LHC Protons are accelerated to % of the speed of light The LHC lets us glimpse the conditions 1/100th of a billionth of a second after the Big Bang: a travel back in time by 13.7 billion years High energy collisions create particles that haven’t existed in nature since the Big Bang Find out what makes the Universe tick at the most fundamental level And find the Higgs boson!

Concept of Higgs Boson– comes from superconductivity theory

LHC –Depends on Superconductivity 3286 HTS Leads

Today: Over 5,500 cell-phone towers contain high- temp SCs 3 Prototype substations for power transmission in US Other markets being developed Applications of High- Temperature Superconductivity

The Applied Superconductivity Center The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory - FSU Years of Remarkable Progress Superconducting devices are pervasive in science and medical technologies Frictionless current flow allows multiple applications. Deep principles behind superconductivity (esp. High Tc superconductivity) to be discovered– more Nobel Prizes(?)

What do we dream of? Materials that remain superconducting in any field. Materials that remain superconducting in any field. Materials that carry enormous current densities so that we can make very powerful magnets. Materials that carry enormous current densities so that we can make very powerful magnets. Materials that are cheap to make, flexible in use, versatile in design and manufacture, strong, fracture resistant. Materials that are cheap to make, flexible in use, versatile in design and manufacture, strong, fracture resistant.

35 Superconductivity offers excellent science, excellent technology, excellent training and the possibility of saving the planet !!Summary

What Else Do We Dream of ? Even Better Super Conductors!