Superconducting Materials
In the research topic Superconducting Materials, we investigate application-relevant superconductors, mainly in the form of thin films, with regard to optimal manufacturing methods, improvements of their electrical transport properties and possible applications. The work is divided into three main research areas, which are interlinked and build on each other:
Film deposition: The growth of films and multilayers of novel and established superconductors is fundamentally investigated and optimized for high-quality samples (with respect to microstructure and superconductivity). Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and chemical solution deposition (CSD) are the main methods used.
Structure-property relationships: Material parameters and structure-property relationships of new, especially application-relevant superconductors are investigated in detail. Promising superconductors are tailor-made and optimized for specific fields of application in energy technology. In particular, the state of knowledge on the anisotropic pinning behavior of layer systems of unconventional superconductors and their nanocomposites as well as on the pinning landscape in low temperature superconductors (e.g. Nb3Sn) will be extended with the aim to be able to adjust the optimal microstructure for an application and thereby to achieve possible new record values in pinning force and critical current density or to reach fundamental limits.
Transport phenomena: The behavior of vortex matter in anisotropic, unconventional superconductors is fundamentally investigated in a large temperature-magnetic field orientation parameter space. Here we work closely with international synthesis and high-field laboratories. Commercial tape conductors are electrically characterized in the application-relevant parameter space before they are used in experiments and developments for power engineering and magnet coil applications.