Leading Edge Superconductivity Research Developments

Download or read book Leading-edge Superconductivity Research Developments written by Tetsuo Watanabe and published by Nova Publishers. This book was released on 2008 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book focuses on superconductivity which is the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current with no resistance and extremely low losses. High temperature superconductors, such as La2-xSrxCuOx (Tc=40K) and YBa2Cu3O7-x (Tc=90K), were discovered in 1987 and have been actively studied since. In spite of an intense, worldwide, research effort during this time, a complete understanding of the copper oxide (cuprate) materials is still lacking.Many fundamental questions are unanswered, particularly the mechanism by which high-Tc superconductivity occurs. More broadly, the cuprates are in a class of solids with strong electron-electron interactions. An understanding of such 'strongly correlated' solids is perhaps the major unsolved problem of condensed matter physics with over ten thousand researchers working on this topic. High-Tc superconductors also have significant potential for applications in technologies ranging from electric power generation and transmission to digital electronics.