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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Measurements of Magnetic Field Penetration in Superconducting Materials for SRF Cavities

Superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) cavities used in particle accelerators operate in the Meissner state. To achieve high accelerating gradients, the cavity material should stay in the Meissner state under high RF magnetic field without penetration of vortices through the cavity wall. The field onset of flux penetration into a superconductor is an important parameter of merit of alternative superconducting materials other than Nb which can enhance the performance of SRF cavities. There is a need for a simple and efficient technique to measure the onset of field penetration into a superconductor directly. We have developed a Hall probe experimental setup for the measurement of the flux penetration field through a superconducting sample placed under a small superconducting solenoid magnet which can generate magnetic fields up to 500 mT. The system has been calibrated and used to measure different bulk and thin film superconducting materials. This system can also be used to study SIS multilayer coatings that have been proposed to enhance the vortex penetration field in Nb cavities.

Senevirathne, I. H.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Investigation of new superconducting materials for the next generation high-performance RF superconducting cavities for particle accelerators

In this DOE-funded project DE-SC0010081-020 Old Dominion University (ODU) in collaboration with University of Wisconsin (UW) and Jefferson Laboratory have investigated both experimentally and theoretically electromagnetic response and losses in multilayered superconducting structures made of new SRF materials which can push the field and Q performance limits of accelerating cavities.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
NASA NTRS1992

Environmental test program for superconducting materials and devices

A systematic approach to obtaining real time, superconducting YBa2Cu30(7-x) materials is presented. The work was carried out under the overall direction of Clemson University with tasks being performed at both Clemson and Westinghouse (Aiken, SC). Clemson prepared the tapecast superconducting 123 material and fabricated in into substrate-supported, environmentally-protected conducting links. Following this, all of the elements were individually tested for resistance vs. temperature and Tc; and then a portion of them were kept at Clemson for further testing while a randomly selected group was delivered to Westinghouse for specialized testing and evaluation in their low temperature/high vacuum and radiation facilities. In addition, a number of control samples (12 ea.) were put on the shelf at Clemson for further reference at the end of the testing period. The specific tests conducted at Clemson and Westinghouse/SRC are presented with a summary of the results.

Haertling, Gene↗
NASA NTRS1995

Superconducting Materials

After working with Lewis Research Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Superconducting Technologies, Inc. (STI) adapted NASA requirements and refined its own standard production recipe. STI uses high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials in its basic products: high quality thin films, circuits and components. Applications include microwave circuits for radar to reduce interference.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2026

Superconducting Material Growth for Radio-Frequency (RF) Cavities

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities, usually manufactured from Niobium (Nb), are vital components of modern particle accelerators because of their ability to achieve high acceleration gradients with little power dissipation. Naturally forming Nb surface oxides significantly alter cavity performance by changing surface resistance. A nondestructive characterization of oxide thickness is helpful for relating surface processing treatments to cavity performance. This work develops a protocol to measure Nb oxide thickness using Angle-Resolved X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (ARXPS) while correcting instrumental errors. Using uniform bulk standard samples (Silver, Aluminum oxide, and Germanium), we determined a baseline correction factor to account for analyzer-related intensity evolution as the measurement angle increases. The correction factor was then applied to Nb 3d ARXPS data. Applying the Strohmeier equation to the corrected data yielded a Nb2O5 thickness of 6.04 nm, closely matching the 5.5 (±.05) nm value obtained from cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Our approach will bring a method to incorporate inherent errors in the thickness measurements using ARXPS and can be broadly applied to improve the accuracy of thickness measurements in a wide range of heterostructures.

Lambert, Nathan [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Superconducting Material Growth for Radio-Frequency (RF) Cavities

Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities, usually manufactured from Niobium (Nb), are vital components of modern particle accelerators because of their ability to achieve high acceleration gradients with little power dissipation. Naturally forming Nb surface oxides significantly alter cavity performance by changing surface resistance. A nondestructive characterization of oxide thickness is helpful for relating surface processing treatments to cavity performance. This work develops a protocol to measure Nb oxide thickness using Angle-Resolved X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (ARXPS) while correcting instrumental errors. Using uniform bulk standard samples (Silver, Aluminum oxide, and Germanium), we determined a baseline correction factor to account for analyzer-related intensity evolution as the measurement angle increases. The correction factor was then applied to Nb 3d ARXPS data. Applying the Strohmeier equation to the corrected data yielded a Nb2O5 thickness of 6.04 nm, closely matching the 5.5 (±.05) nm value obtained from cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. Our approach will bring a method to incorporate inherent errors in the thickness measurements using ARXPS and can be broadly applied to improve the accuracy of thickness measurements in a wide range of heterostructures.

Lambert, Nathan [Fermilab]↗
NASA NTRS1991

Development, preparation, and characterization of high-performance superconducting materials for space applications

The preparation of high-temperature superconducting ceramics in bulk form is a major challenge in materials science. The current status of both partial melting and melt quenching techniques, with or without an intermediate powder processing stage, is described in detail, and the problems associated with each of the methods are discussed. Results of studies performed on melt-processed materials are reported and discussed. The discussion places emphasis on magnetization and on other physical properties associated with it, such as critical current density, levitation force, and flux creep. The nature of structural features which give rise to flux pinning, including both small and large defects, is discussed with reference to theoretical considerations. The rates of flux creep and the factors involved in attempting to retard the decay of the magnetization are surveyed.

Thorpe, Arthur N.↗
DOE OSTI2022

MULTI-TECHNIQUE CHARACTERIZATION OF SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIALS FOR PARTICLE ACCELERATOR APPLICATIONS

We investigated the performance limitations of superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities and materials using multiple experimental techniques. In particular, this study focuses on understanding the surface properties of nitrogen-doped Nb cavities and super?conducting thin films with higher Tc such as Nb3Sn. The main goal of this work is to use different techniques to better understand each aspect of the complex loss mechanism in superconductors to further improve the already highly efficient SRF cavities. Nitrogen doping applied to a Nb SRF cavity significantly improves the quality factor Q0 compared to a conventional Nb cavity, at an expense of reduced maximum accelerating gradient. The early quench mechanism was analyzed by using temperature maps before and during the quenching. The temperature maps revealed insignificant heating before the quench, and we concluded that nitrogen doping reduces critical magnetic fields in local regions, leading to premature quenching. To understand the origin of the increasing Q0 with the rf field, the density of states (DOS) of cold spots from nitrogen-doped and standard cavities were measured and analyzed using scanning tunneling microscopy. The results suggested that nitrogen doping reduces the spatial inhomogeneity of superconducting properties and shrinks the metallic suboxide layers, which tunes the DOS in such a way as to produce the field-induced reduction in the surface resistance. To characterize SRF thin films, an experimental setup for measuring a coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator was developed and tested. A surface impedance measurement of the Nb film showed good agreement with the BCS calculation. The preliminary results from measurements of Nb3Sn and NbTiN films are also presented here. The nonlinear Meissner effect was investigated in Nb3Sn film CPW resonators by mea?suring the resonant frequency as a function of a parallel magnetic field. Contrary to a conventional quadratic dependence of the penetration depth ?(B) on the applied magnetic field B, as expected in s-wave superconductors, nearly a linear increase of ?(B) with B was observed. It was concluded that this behavior of ?(B) is due to weakly linked grain bound?aries on the polycrystalline Nb3Sn films, which can mimic the NLME expected in a clean d-wave superconductor.

Makita, Junki↗
DOE OSTI2026

Zentropy Theory for Transformative Functionalities of Magnetic and Superconducting Materials

The proposed research developed the zentropy theory through applications to complex magnetic materials and superconductors under the hypothesis that the emergent properties of complex magnetic materials and superconductors can be predicted by statistical mechanics of ergodic microstates with their partition functions computed from DFT-predicted free energies. The key objective is to develop approaches to systematically determine the types and number of microstates and the supercell size in DFT-based calculations through convergency of macroscopic functionalities, with the incorporation of our mixed-space approach accounting for the interactions between periodic supercells. In addition to use scientific intuitions to guide the design of important microstates, the key innovation of the proposed research is to integrate the domain knowledge and the material-property-descriptor database (MPDD) with 4 million microstates, which is supported by our deep neural network machine learning models (SIPFENN: structure-informed prediction of formation energy using neural networks) and integrated with our high throughput DFT Tool Kit (DFTTK). For complex magnetic materials, one of the objectives is to develop approaches to calculate short-range ordering from the statistical distribution of each microstate. For superconductors, the divergency of quasiparticle effective mass at a quantum critical point will be investigated, and the superconducting and non-superconducting microstates will be delineated through analysis of electronic band structure, density of states, charge density, and Fermi surface.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS1990

High Tc superconducting materials and devices

The high Tc Y1Ba2Cu3O(7-x) ceramic materials, initially developed in 1987, are now being extensively investigated for a variety of engineering applications. The superconductor applications which are presently identified as of most interest to NASA-LaRC are low-noise, low thermal conductivity grounding links; large-area linear Meissner-effect bearings; and sensitive, low-noise sensors and leads. Devices designed for these applications require the development of a number of processing and fabrication technologies. Included among the technologies most specific to the present needs are tapecasting, melt texturing, magnetic field grain alignment, superconductor/polymer composite fabrication, thin film MOD (metal-organic decomposition) processing, screen printing of thick films, and photolithography of thin films. The overall objective of the program was to establish a high Tc superconductivity laboratory capability at NASA-LaRC and demonstrate this capability by fabricating superconducting 123 material via bulk and thin film processes. Specific objectives include: order equipment and set up laboratory; prepare 1 kg batches of 123 material via oxide raw material; construct tapecaster and tapecaster 123 material; fabricate 123 grounding link; fabricate 123 composite for Meissner linear bearing; develop 123 thin film processes (nitrates, acetates); establish Tc and Jc measurement capability; and set up a commercial use of space program in superconductivity at LaRC. In general, most of the objectives of the program were met. Finally, efforts to implement a commercial use of space program in superconductivity at LaRC were completed and at least two industrial companies have indicated their interest in participating.

Haertling, Gene H.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Superconductive material and magnetic field for damping and levitation support and damping of cryogenic instruments

A superconductive load bearing support without a mechanical contact and vibration damping for cryogenic instruments in space is presented. The levitation support and vibration damping is accomplished by the use of superconducting magnets and the 'Meissner' effect. The assembly allows for transfer of vibration energy away from the cryogenic instrument which then can be damped by the use of either an electronic circuit or conventional vibration damping mean.

Dolgin, Benjamin P.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Methods and systems for treatment of superconducting materials to improve low field performance

A system and method for treating a cavity comprises preparing a superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavity for removal of a dielectric layer from on an inner surface of the SRF cavity, subjecting the SRF cavity to a heat treatment in order to remove the dielectric layer from the inner surface of the SRF cavity, and preventing the development of a new dielectric layer on the inner surface of the SRF cavity by preventing an interaction between the inner surface of the SRF cavity and atmospheric gasses.

Romanenko, Alexander↗
NASA NTRS1995

Processing and property evaluation of metal matrix superconducting materials

Metal - superconductor (YBCO) systems have been prepared and characterized by resistivity, ac susceptibility and dc SQUID magnetic moment measurements. The silver composites showed superconducting transition for all the composites processed and the superconducting transition temperature tends to depend upon the concentration of the silver in the composite. Aluminum composites showed an unusual resistivity results with two transitions around 90 K and 120 K. The superconducting property of silver composites can be explained qualitatively in terms of the proximity theory that has been suggested for the low temperature superconductors.

Rao, Appajosula S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Environmental test program for superconducting materials and devices

This report is divided into two parts. The first dealing with work involved with Clemson University and the second with the results from Westinghouse/Savannah River. Both areas of work involved low noise, low thermal conductivity superconducting grounding links used in the NASA-sponsored Spectroscopy of the Atmosphere using Far Infrared Emission (SAFIRE) Project. Clemson prepared the links from YBa2Cu3O(7-x) superconductor tape that was mounted on a printed circuit board and encapsulated with epoxy resin. The Clemson program includes temperature vs. resistance, liquid nitrogen immersion, water immersion, thermal cycling, humidity, and radiation testing. The evaluation of the links under a long term environmental test program is described. The Savannah River program includes gamma irradiation, vibration, and long-term evaluation. The progress made in these evaluations is discussed.

Haertling, Gene↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measurements of Magnetic Field Penetration of Materials for Superconducting Radiofrequency Cavities

Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities used in particle accelerators are typically formed from or coated with superconducting materials. Currently high purity niobium is the material of choice for SRF cavities which have been optimized to operate near their theoretical field limits. This brings about the need for significant R&D efforts to develop next generation superconducting materials which could outperform Nb and keep up with the demands of new accelerator facilities. To achieve high quality factors and accelerating gradients, the cavity material should be able to remain in the superconducting Meissner state under high RF magnetic field without penetration of quantized magnetic vortices through the cavity wall. Therefore, the magnetic field at which vortices penetrate in a supercon- ductor is one of the key parameters of merit of SRF cavities. Techniques to measure the onset of magnetic field penetration on thin film samples need to be developed to mitigate the issues with the conventional magnetometry measurements which are strongly influenced by the film orientation and shape and edge effects. The applied magnetic field is also needed to be parallel to the one side of the superconductor to resemble the magnetic field profile at the surface of the SRF cavities operating at fundamental accelerating mode. In this work we report the development of an experimental setup called Magnetic Field Penetration (MFP) magnetometer to measure the field of full flux penetration through bulk, thin films and multilayered superconductors. Our system combines a small superconducting solenoid which can generate the magnetic field up to 500 mT at the sample surface and three Hall probes to detect the full flux penetration through the planner superconductor with 2 inch diameter. This setup was used to study alternative materials which could potentially outperform niobium, as well as SIS multilayer coatings on niobium.

Senevirathne, Iresha↗
NASA NTRS1989

Studies of superconducting materials with muon spin rotation

The muon spin rotation/relaxation technique was found to be an exceptionally effective means of measuring the magnetic properties of superconductors, including the new high temperature superconductor materials, at the microscopic level. The technique directly measures the magnetic penetration depth (type II superconductors (SC's)) and detects the presence of magnetic ordering (antiferromagnetism or spin-glass ordering were observed in some high temperature superconductor (HTSC's) and in many closely related compounds). Extensive studies of HTSC materials were conducted by the Virginia State University - College of William and Mary - Columbia University collaboration at Brookhaven National Laboratory and TRIUMF (Vancouver). A survey of LaSrCuO and YBaCaCuO systems shows an essentially linear relationship between the transition temperature T(sub c) and the relaxation rate. This appears to be a manifestation of the proportionality between T(sub c) and the Fermi energy, which suggests a high energy scale for the SC coupling, and which is not consistent with the weak coupling of phonon-mediated SC. Studies of LaCuO and YBaCuO parent compounds show clear evidence of antiferromagnetism. YBa2Cu(3-x)CO(x)O7 shows the simultaneous presence of spin-glass magnetic ordering and superconductivity. Three-dimensional SC, (Ba, K) BiO3, unlike the layered CuO-based compounds, shows no suggestion of magnetic ordering. Experimental techniques and theoretical implications are discussed.

Davis, Michael R.↗