High-performance joints between iron-based superconductors: a key step towards applications

Abstract

Abstract In 2008 the first of a new group of superconducting materials, the iron-based superconductors (IBS), was reported [1]. Apart from the intrinsic physics interest it quickly became clear that these materials have favourable characteristics from an applied superconductivity standpoint. They have a relatively high critical temperature (Tc), up to 55 K [2], along with a high upper critical field, Hc2 > 100 T [3] and low Hc2 anisotropy (with the best achieving anisotropy in superconducting properties of about 1.5, compared to a minimum for cuprates of approximately 5) [3–5]. They can also achieve values of critical current density above 105 A cm-2 in fields over 10 T [6]. Despite the youth of the field, research into these materials has been conducted at pace [7].