Experiments Support Superconductor
Five months after Japanese researchers stumbled upon a promising superconducting material, scientists on two continents have manipulated the material in ways that foreshadow its practical uses. Among them: high-tech medical diagnostics, more powerful computers and efficient electricity transmission.
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However, scientists who did not conduct the studies said it still is too early to predict whether magnesium diboride will become an everyday material.
``There's no giant step here,' said Ted Geballe, a superconductivity expert at Stanford University. ``I think they're very promising, but I don't put a time scale on them.'
A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity with little or no resistance. Superconducting materials would dramatically reduce power losses. Conventional wires leak energy as heat.
However, most superconductors are impractical because they require extremely cold temperatures to function.
Magnesium diboride is a common metal compound. It had been ignored for the past 15 years because researchers have been enamored with oxygen-containing compounds that can superconduct as warm as minus 172 degrees.
But those compounds are more exotic and more expensive than magnesium diboride.
The physics community was stunned in February when Japanese scientists determined that magnesium diboride could carry electricity with little resistance at minus 388 degrees. Until then, scientists believed it didn't show superconducting properties until minus 418 degrees.
While that is much colder than minus 172, a 30-degree improvement is considered to be significant nonetheless.
In the May 31 issue of the journal Nature, experiments at Agere SystemsLucent Technologies in New Jersey tried to overcome problems with making it into wire.
Researcher Sungho Jin and others took the superconductor in a powdered form and encased it in iron-clad tubes. Tests showed that it conducted electricity with about the same ability as a plain sample of magnesium diboride.
Two additional reports demonstrate different ways to stabilize the magnetic fields in transmission wires made from the material. Magnetic fields can reduce the material's superconductivity.
At Imperial College in London, scientists boosted the current by blasting the compound with positively charged hydrogen atoms. It disrupted the material's atomic structure and reduced its magnetic field.
At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, researchers added a little oxygen to magnesium diboride. As a result, the material carried a stronger current even in the presence of a stronger magnetic field.
``It's been a dream ever since 1911 to discover a superconductor with higher and higher temperatures,' said Paul Grant of the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., who reviewed the studies for Nature.
``This material is 50 years old,' Grant said. ``We all looked at each other and said, 'How the hell did we ever miss this?''
Grant said the superconductor could be used to make smaller, quieter medical diagnostic equipment that examines magnetic field patterns of the brain and heart. He also envisions it being used in large computer systems like those used by government agencies for encryption.
``It's very unlikely your work station is going to someday have superconductor technology in it,' he said. ``It's very likely megaservers installed in huge Internet data centers will be based on superconductor digital technology.'
Geballe said talk of using magnesium diboride is premature, but not far-fetched.
``It could run under the city of San Francisco and transmit electrical power and also possibly make MRI magnets cheaper,' he said.
``There's no giant step here,' said Ted Geballe, a superconductivity expert at Stanford University. ``I think they're very promising, but I don't put a time scale on them.'
A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity with little or no resistance. Superconducting materials would dramatically reduce power losses. Conventional wires leak energy as heat.
However, most superconductors are impractical because they require extremely cold temperatures to function.
Magnesium diboride is a common metal compound. It had been ignored for the past 15 years because researchers have been enamored with oxygen-containing compounds that can superconduct as warm as minus 172 degrees.
But those compounds are more exotic and more expensive than magnesium diboride.
The physics community was stunned in February when Japanese scientists determined that magnesium diboride could carry electricity with little resistance at minus 388 degrees. Until then, scientists believed it didn't show superconducting properties until minus 418 degrees.
While that is much colder than minus 172, a 30-degree improvement is considered to be significant nonetheless.
In the May 31 issue of the journal Nature, experiments at Agere SystemsLucent Technologies in New Jersey tried to overcome problems with making it into wire.
Researcher Sungho Jin and others took the superconductor in a powdered form and encased it in iron-clad tubes. Tests showed that it conducted electricity with about the same ability as a plain sample of magnesium diboride.
Two additional reports demonstrate different ways to stabilize the magnetic fields in transmission wires made from the material. Magnetic fields can reduce the material's superconductivity.
At Imperial College in London, scientists boosted the current by blasting the compound with positively charged hydrogen atoms. It disrupted the material's atomic structure and reduced its magnetic field.
At the University of Wisconsin, Madison, researchers added a little oxygen to magnesium diboride. As a result, the material carried a stronger current even in the presence of a stronger magnetic field.
``It's been a dream ever since 1911 to discover a superconductor with higher and higher temperatures,' said Paul Grant of the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., who reviewed the studies for Nature.
``This material is 50 years old,' Grant said. ``We all looked at each other and said, 'How the hell did we ever miss this?''
Grant said the superconductor could be used to make smaller, quieter medical diagnostic equipment that examines magnetic field patterns of the brain and heart. He also envisions it being used in large computer systems like those used by government agencies for encryption.
``It's very unlikely your work station is going to someday have superconductor technology in it,' he said. ``It's very likely megaservers installed in huge Internet data centers will be based on superconductor digital technology.'
Geballe said talk of using magnesium diboride is premature, but not far-fetched.
``It could run under the city of San Francisco and transmit electrical power and also possibly make MRI magnets cheaper,' he said.
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