When cooled to low temperatures, certain materials lose their resistance to the flow of electrical current. This property, called superconductivity, has both fundamental and practical significance. In particular, it allows the development of superconducting magnets for a variety of applications, including fusion reactors, particle accelerators and magnetic energy storage devices.

On a small scale, it provides a range of high-performance instrumentation. Interest in the entire field of superconductivity was boosted by the discovery of a new class of materials exhibiting superconductivity at temperatures near the boiling point of liquid nitrogen.

UW-Madison has established itself as a world leader in academic-based applied superconductivity research. The Applied Superconductivity Center is pursuing a variety of interdisciplinary projects related to the commercial use of this technology. Principle areas of research include: developing refrigeration systems using cryocoolers and/or liquid cryogens; integrating cryocoolers with emerging high-temperature superconductor applications; developing both high-field superconducting materials such as NbTi and Nb3Sn, and new high-temperature ceramic materials; and fabricating and performing experiments involving composite conductors for large magnet applications. The Applied Superconductivity Center is truly interdisciplinary, involving Professors Pfotenhauer, Witt and Adjunct Professor Dresner (EP), as well as faculty from electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering.

www.asc.wisc.edu

Copyright 2005 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Date last modified: Tuesday, 22-Jun-1999 09:36:41 CDT Content by: neep@engr.wisc.edu Thank you for visiting!