The prospects of high-temperature superconductors

Abstract

Superconductors conduct electricity with essentially zero resistance, avoiding many of the power losses in present electric power transmission, conversion, and use. Strong electromagnetic fields have so far been the principal application of superconductors, with widespread commercial superconductivity limited to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) electromagnets composed of the low-temperature superconductor (LTS) Nb47Ti. Broader applications of LTSs have been hindered by the need to cool them with liquid helium (at or below 4.2 K). High-temperature superconductors (HTSs) (1) that can operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures (between 65 and 80 K) promised ubiquitous applications that could escape the constraint of LTSs. Achieving the International Energy Agency roadmap to carbon-free economies by 2050 would be greatly facilitated by the use of nuclear fusion-generated electricity. HTSs have been used in prototype nuclear fusion reactors (2), thereby creating the opportunity to overcome the cost barriers that have so far prevented the commercial development of HTS technologies