| In Europe,
a major multidisciplinary research effort has been generated to master
the potential applications of 'high temperature' superconductivity.
A review of the long saga behind superconductivity, a phenomenon which
could bring about a technological revolution.
A
dream about to come true
Discovered in 1911 by the Dutch physicist Heike Kammerlingh Onnes,
superconductivity – or the total elimination of resistance
to the passage of an electric current in certain materials –
is a truly exceptional phenomenon. In a sense, it is the realisation
of the age-old human dream of perpetual motion.
The
stakes
What would a world be like where superconductive applications were
commonplace?
The
long and winding road
Until the 1986 milestone discovery of High Temperature Superconductors
(HTS), scientific and technological progress on 'low temperature'
superconductivity had followed a long and winding road – one
that can offer insights into the challenges facing today's researchers.
How
to turn powder into 'wire'
Changing powder into ‘wire’ is the simple yet infuriating
puzzle that hundreds of high-tech laboratories worldwide have been
grappling with for more than a decade.
Europe
in the race
Dozens of European academic and industrial laboratories have been
working together for more than a decade on the challenges of HTS
superconductors. The EU actively supports these joint efforts. Takis
P. A. Ageladarakis, who is responsible for superconductive materials
at Research DG, explains the thinking behind this choice of priorities.
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