Paul M. Grant

Superconductivity. Rehearsals for prime time.

Superconductivity seems to have been forever waiting in the wings. Although superconducting power cables are about to go live, will the newest material, magnesium diboride, become the class act of the future?

Potential Electric Power Applications for Magnesium Diboride

The newly discovered superconductor, MgB2, has significant potential for a number of electric power applications, even though its critical temperature, TC, is “only” 39 K. In recent months, there has been rapid improvement in its critical state parameters, JC and H*, properties crucial to deployment in power devices, which now rival NbTi at 4.2 K, and equal or surpass many of the high temperature superconducting copper oxide perovskites in the 20 – 25 K range. Moreover, substantial progress has been achieved in realizing wire embodiments that appear economically scalable to commercial production. In this paper, we will review several opportunities to exploit these developments for transformer and electric cable applications, and hint at the possibility of a novel and visionary power delivery system centered on an MgB2-based dc cable cooled by gaseous or liquid hydrogen supplying both electrical and chemical energy to the end user.

Currents without borders

Following the discovery of superconductivity at liquid-nitrogen temperatures, the idea of making ‘superwires’ soon ran into problems. Structural impurities remain the main obstacle, but a high dose of calcium may be the answer.

Down the path of least resistance

Of all the discoveries in condensed-matter physics during the 20th century, some might call superconductivity the crown jewel.

Extreme energy makeover

According to a report by the US Department of Energy (DOE), world energy consumption is expected to grow from its present level of about 120EWh (120×1018 watthours) per annum to well over 180 EWh by 2025, a rise of more than 50%. Moreover, many demographers predict that the worlds population will approach 10 billion by mid-century, with global industrialization rates far outpacing those of the US. As the entire planet aspires to reach a Western standard of living, the DOE predicts that the current energy consumption rate, 63 EWh per year in the industrialized nations and 55 EWh in emerging countries, will evolve towards 80 EWh and 97 EWh, respectively.

Room at the bottom

Everyone has heard of Silicon Valley, but few really understand how it became the home of the global computing industry.

Keeping the lights on after 2100

As the presidential election campaign hots up here in the US, it is inevitable that energy issues will loom large on the political agenda.

The specifics of superconductivity

When addressing the general audience of any scientific discipline, it is wise to remember Abraham Lincoln, who (almost) said You can please all physicists some of the time and some physicists all of the time, but never all physicists all of the time.

Superconductors get ready for action

When I was asked to review the Handbook of Applied Superconductiviy, the invitation came as both a surprise and a sentence. The sentence was that this two-volume set weighs about 4.5 kg and is some 2000 pages long – definitely not a casual afternoon read. The surprise was that I have only been involved in applications of superconductivity for the past three or four years. Most of my career before that was spent in basic research on exotic superconductors, low-dimensional organic and polymeric metals, and, of course, copper-oxide perovskites.