APPLICATIONS

OF
SUPERCONDUCT
IVITY

1) Low temperature liquid helium

superconductors have been used
to fabricate high field magnets
and some electronic and radio
frequency devices.

Superconducting

Magnets

We know that an electric current in a

wire creates a magnetic field around the
wire. The strength of the magnetic field
increases as the current in the wire
increases. Since SCs can carry large
currents without energy loss, they are
well suited for making strong magnets

AMS-02: With a diameter of nearly 3 m and a

cold mass approaching 2 tonnes, AMS-02 will be
the first large superconducting magnet to be
launched into space. The 14 coils generate
fields up to 7 T and are indirectly cooled to 1.8 K
by 2500 liters of superfluid helium.

7 T horizontal bore
superconducting magnet

For more details please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_magnet

Electronic & Radio Frequency

Devices

In electronics industry, ultra-high-performance

filters are now being built. Since
superconducting wire has near zero resistance,
even at high frequencies, many more filter
stages can be employed to achieve a desired
frequency response. This translates into an
ability to pass desired frequencies and block
undesirable frequencies in high-congestion
radio frequency applications such as cellular
telephone systems.

2) The superconducting magnets

have been employed in NMR
spectrometers and NMR imaging
is used in medical diagnostics.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

(NMR) Spectrometers

NMR spectrometer technology uses

superconducting wires cooled with cryogens (liquid
helium & liquid nitrogen) to generate a magnetic
field. NMR spectrometers provide the most
homogenous magnetic fields and the greatest
spectral resolution. NMR spectroscopy can be
used for chemical analysis, reaction
monitoring, and quality assurance/quality control
experiments.
Higher-field instruments enable unparalleled
resolution for structure determination, particularly
for complex molecules.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Imaging (NMRI)

On applying a strong superconductor

derived magnetic field into the body,
hydrogen atoms that exist in the body's
water and fat molecules are forced to
accept energy from the magnetic field.
They then release this energy at a
frequency that can be detected and
displayed graphically by a computer.

An Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI) Scanner.

(Simply called as MRI Scanner)

3) Superconductors are used for

effective magnetic shielding.

Magnetic Shield

When you place a superconductor near

a magnet, the magnetic field gets
repelled by the superconductor because
it does not allow the field to penetrate its
surface (Meissner Effect).

Normal Conductor

Superconductor

4) Superconductors are used as

magnetic energy storage.

Superconducting Magnetic
Energy Storage (SMES)

SMES systems store energy in the magnetic field

created by the flow of direct current in
a superconducting coil.
Once the superconducting coil is charged, the
current will not decay and the magnetic energy
can be stored indefinitely.
The stored energy can be released back to the
network by discharging the coil.
SMES loses the least amount of electricity in the
energy storage process compared to other
methods of storing energy. i.e. the SMES systems
are highly efficient; the round-trip efficiency is
greater than 95%.

The worlds largest superconducting magnetic energy storage system:

This system counters sudden drops in voltage (line-drops) that result from lightning
strikes and other natural phenomena. The 10,000-kW superconducting magnetic
energy storage system installed at the Kameyama (a City in Japan) Plant can
generate high voltage in an instant and counter the effects of line-drops.

5) Superconductors have been

used to produce various devices
based on superconducting
quantum effects such as SQUIDS
and Josephson devices

Superconducting
Quantum Interference
Device
(SQUID)

A SQUID is a very sensitive

magnetometer used to measure extreme
low magnetic fields.
SQUIDs are sensitive enough to
measure fields as low as 51018 T
(i.e. can detect a change of energy as much as
100 billion times weaker than the
electromagnetic energy that moves a compass
needle, such as subtle changes in the human
body's electromagnetic energy field)

The inner workings of an early SQUID

Josephson Devices

In 1962 Brian D. Josephson predicted that

electrical current would flow between two
superconducting materials, even when they are
separated by a non-superconductor or insulator.
His prediction was later confirmed and won him
a share of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics. This
tunneling phenomenon is today known as the
"Josephson effect
SQUIDs work based on the Josephson effect.
Devices that work based on the principle of
Josephson effect are called Josephson Devices.

6) For high speed magnetic trains

and ship drive system
superconductors are used.

MagLev Trains

The Maglev (derived from Magnetic

Levitation) train system works by utilizing
magnetized coils running along a track that
attract and repel large superconducting
magnets in the trains undercarriage and
allow it to levitate almost 4 inches off the
ground. Power supplied to the coils in the
guideway then creates polarizing forces
that pull and push the train along. As the
only resistance is air,

Working of Maglev
Trains

The maglev train is equipped with several

superconductors, while a series of electromagnetic
coils run along the length of the track. When the
train approaches these coils, the superconductors
induce a current in them that works to both levitate
the train several centimeters above the track and
to center it between the guide rails.
A moving magnetic field can hence produce
inducted currents that, in reaction, will produce a
second magnetic field interacting with the first one.
It is this force that lifts the Maglev.

Maglev propulsion along a track that attract and repel

large superconducting magnets

Advantages of using
Superconductors in Maglev Trains

Conventional electromagnets waste much of the

electrical energy as heat, they would have to be
physically much larger than superconducting magnets.
The beauty of maglevs is that they travel on air. The
consequent elimination of friction means much greater
efficiency: high speed (>500kmph) and less wear and
tear (i.e. less maintenance). Just as electrons move
more efficiently through a superconducting wire
because there is no resistance, so, too, does a maglev
travel more efficiently than a regular train because
there is no friction between the wheels and the track,
thanks to the Meissner Effect.

JRMaglev, or SCMaglev (Super-Conducting Maglev) Japan Railways

A maglev train is coming out of the Pudong International Airport, China

7) Superconductors are used in

computers and information
processing.

Computing and Information

Processing

Superconductivity could even be used to build

a quantum computer, enabling massively parallel
processing (to reach speed at the rates of 100 GHz)
Quantum computers are different from digital
computers based on transistors. Whereas digital
computers require data to be encoded into binary digits
(bits), quantum computation uses quantum properties
to represent data and perform operations on these
data.
Quantum Processors make use of superconducting
qubit (Quantum Bits) architecture.

THE END
THANKS