High-Tc Superconductors for Magnet and Energy Technology: Fundamental Aspects (Springer Tracts in Modern Physics, 171)

This review consists of three parts. The first part provides basic information about the physics and materials science of high-temperature superconductors for applications in magnet and energy technology. It addresses more than is required by a newcomer in this field, by putting together information from very different areas such as physical chemistry, materials science and condensed matter physics, which otherwise would have to be collected from various textbooks and original literature. In an introductory chapter potential applications are presented and the limitations of the materials are discussed. Part I closes with a final chapter on the present state of the art, where the latest results in this field are briefly reviewed. Parts II and III contain the most recent results on the preparation and characterization of Bi-2212 (Bi2Sr2CaCu2O5) wires and tapes, and Bi-2223 Since the discovery of high temperature superconductors the scientific com nmnity has been very active in research on material and system development as well as on the basic understanding of the mechanism of superconductiv ity at high transition temperatures. When Heike Kammerlingh Onnes found superconductivity in pure mercury in 1911 [118] after liquefying helium in 1908 [117] he immediately knew about the great potential of lossless current transport for applications in magnet and energy technology.