The Frontiers of Superconductivity Applications(Celebrating the Centenary of Superconductivity)

Abstract

Research and development of materials technology over many years are required from the discovery of superconductors to reach their practical applications. There have been many technical hurdles for copper-oxide high-temperature superconductors discovered a quarter century ago because of their peculiar physical properties. Nonetheless, mass production of superconducting tapes with kilometer length has recently been realized, and developments of electric power devices such as superconducting cables and industrial equipments utilizing such tapes have really started. As for electronic applications, developments of large-scale integrated circuits based on low-temperature superconductors and applications of highly sensitive electromagnetic wave sensors to science have steadily progressed these years. For copper oxides, developments aiming at industrial applications of integrated superconducting quantum interference devices with high performance are in progress.