High Temperature Superconductivity

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Making superconducting electronics a reality, a group of dedicated people within IBM Research, both at the T. J. Watson Research Center and Zurich Research Laboratory , are aggressively pursuing superconducting science and technology. Come and explore a fantastically cool world with us!

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR RECENT WORK:

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-- Scanning SQUID Microscope and the Half-Integer Flux Quantum Effect

The scanning SQUID microscope is an extremely sensitive instrument used for imaging magnetic fields at the surfaces. We have used it to image vortices in special geometries of high-Tc superconductors with exactly half of the flux normally seen.

WHAT WE ARE DOING:

Applications of SQUIDs - Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) are the most sensitive detectors of magnetic fields in existence. At IBM we are learning how to use SQUIDs in real world applications.

Symmetry of the High-Tc Superconducting Wave Function - Using a Scanning SQUID Microscope we are trying to measure how the electrons in a superconductor arrange themselves.

We use a sensitive Torquemeter to measure the magnetic moment of microcrystals (mass smaller than 1 microgram). The device, based on the deflection of cantilevers, allows us to measure magnetic anisotropy and pinning properties in ultrasmall volumes.

Pinning flux lines in high-Tc superconductors - By bombarding high-Tc superconductors with high energy atomic particles we have found we can improve their ability to conduct current. This should allow better superconducting motors and magnets to be made.

High-temperature superconducting mercury-based cuprate films and SQUIDs - We have developed a process to fabricate high quality mercury-based superconducting thin films that have transition temperatures in excess of 125 K.

Superconducting film growth using layer by layer Molecular Beam and Chemical Beam Epitaxy (MBE and CBE) - From films with high perfection in structure and clean interfaces, we learn how superconducting properties vary as a function of doping and strain.

Really fast superconducting Analog to Digital converters -- so fast, in fact, that they are being clocked not with conventional electronics but with ultrafast lasers!

We are exploring the basis of superconducting field effect transistors with loss free drain source channels in novel epitaxial Heterostrcutures.

New Layered Oxide Crystals - We are fabricating new materials with superlattices related to the high Tc structures and we can tune their magnetic and transport properties.

Update: May 28, 1996

T. J. Watson Research Center | Zurich Research Laboratory |
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