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Welcome to the Texas Center for Superconductivity at University of Houston

News & Events At The Texas Center For Superconductivity

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Special Seminar

The New Generation of Superconductor Electric Power Equipment

by: Alexis Malozemoff

Date: Monday May 23, 2005

Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102

Overview

Rising energy demands, driven by population and economic growth, face an increasing clash with resource, land use and other environmental limits. Amidst the fierce debate over general energy policy priorities, there is broad consensus on the urgent need to modernize and strengthen the electric power grid. High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) wire is one of the keys to achieving these goals. Superconductivity is the amazing property of certain materials to conduct electricity with no resistive loss and high current density, enabling a new generation of electrical power equipment that is efficient, compact and very low in environmental impact. This vision has been enabled by the successful development and commercialization of robust, long-length, high performance HTS wires.

Examples of HTS applications, all in an advanced prototype stage, include:

  • High-capacity, controllable HTS cables, which offer increased delivery capacity, essentially zero local environmental impact and the ability to offload overburdened sections of the grid;
  • Dynamic HTS synchronous condensers offer large amounts of rapidly adjusted reactive power to improve grid stability and efficiency;
  • Utility generators that produce more electricity for every unit of fuel consumed; and
  • Fault current limiters and transformers that enable more reliable, lower cost operation of the grid.

This presentation will describe these applications, along with the superconductor wire that underlies them, and will assess their potential impact on the major grid challenges our society faces today.

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Special Seminar

Second-generation HTS Conductors

by: Dr. Venkat Selvamanickam

Date: Monday May 02, 2005

Time: 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102

Overview

High temperature superconductors (HTS) are nearing their commercial viability with the projected roll out of second-generation conductors within one year. Second-generation HTS conductors promise to meet the price-performance characteristics needed for widespread use of HTS. SuperPower has been working on the scale up of second-generation HTS since its formation in 2000. This presentation would discuss the R&D over the last 5 years at SuperPower that has resulted in successful scale up of high-throughput processes to produce 100 m lengths of second-generation HTS conductors. The R&D has been an integration of basic materials science, equipment engineering, and process development. Such an integration was applied to all eight processing steps involved in fabrication of second-generation HTS conductors that include substrate polishing, buffer deposition, superconductor deposition, slitting, and copper stabilizer application. In addition, novel characterization techniques were applied to develop off-line and on-line quality control tools. The presentation would provide the latest development in the scale up R&D of second-generation HTS conductors as well as detail the remaining challenges for successful use of HTS in commercial applications

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Special Seminar

Studies of Growth for BST Ferroelectric Oxide Thin Films

by: Prof. Yanrong Li

Date: Friday April 15, 2005

Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102

Overview

We have systematically investigated the epitaxial behavior, microstructures, and dielectric properties of ferroelectric (Ba,Sr)TiO3 thin films on various substrates grown by pulsed laser ablation and laser MBE. We have focused on the film growth mechanisms, low temperature crystallization, and buffer- layer-induced high oriented film growth as well as oxide superlattices. Microstructural studies from x-ray diffraction, rocking curve measurements, and electron microscopy reveal that the films have excellent epitaxial behavior with good single crystallinity and sharp interfacial structures and smooth surface morphology for the films grown on substrate surfaces.

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Special Seminar

Manufacturability at the Nanoscale

by: Dr. Christie Marrian

Date: Thursday April 07, 2005

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102

Overview

Using the 2005 IBM Global Technology Outlook, I will describe the roadmap for device technology and manufacturing in the semiconductor industry. Looking beyond these roadmaps, I will discuss moving beyond our current methods of fabrication of nanoscale devices and circuits. These almost always rely on heroic efforts of nanofabrication that are inappropriate for anything other than research. To achieve, at the nanoscale, any level of volume manufacturing requires more than extensions of the paradigms practiced today. We must look to Nanotechnology for help in overcoming this challenge as to fail to do so will consign nanostructure science and technology to be a mere intellectual curiosity.

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Special Seminar

Recent Issues in Data Storage

by: Prof. Erik Svedberg

Date: Thursday April 07, 2005

Time: 10:00 am – 11:00 am

Location: Houston Science Center – Building 593 — Room 102

Overview

The “trilemma” of data-storage is becoming more challenging as the packing density of information continues to increase on disc drives. We are today aiming to reach a density of 1Tbit/in2. The conflicting magnetic requirements while shrinking the bit size will be described in this presentation and I will visit some of the interesting challenges in materials science and measurement technology encountered during my last five years working in this area. The presentation will touch upon AFM/MFM measurements used for determination of signal-to-noise ratios and data aging. There is always a need to “see” what you have recorded, not only to receive a feedback signal from the system under study. Nano-particles versus grains in thin films and statistical size analysis will be included as it is an important aspect for future technologies. Today grain size distributions rely largely on SEM and TEM images that provide too little statistical material. Electroplated nano-junctions present the possibility of novel properties that are e.g. useful in sensors for reading stored information. As the bit size shrinks the magnetic signal is reduced and there is a search for more sensitive detectors. Combinatorial approaches to material science and x-ray diffraction (XRD) texture determination of important magnetic materials, such as FePt, will also be discussed. The complex factors determining the magnetic thin film properties can be initially screened and optimized in ways similar to advanced drug discovery.

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