High Current Capacity Superconducting Wire for Compact Power Systems

The development of cost effective processing techniques that enable the creation of superconductive films with high current capabilities are required to facilitate the development of compact power systems for military applications. In this work, we will investigate the deposition of YBCO films using a gas-jet assisted electron-beam based deposition technique that allows very high deposition rates to be achieved while retaining the quality of the deposited films. This approach uses advanced control over the coating composition, the energy of the depositing atoms and the oxygen flux to the substrate by using multi-source electron beam evaporation, hollow-cathode plasma activation and oxygen /helium gas jets to deposit highly textured YBCO films at high rates that have flux pinning sites incorporated. This processing approach is anticipated to enable the creation of high temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes that have improved engineering current densities over those produced with current approaches while reducing the costs of producing the tape. Phase I work will lead to a follow-on Phase II program focused on extending the process to reel-to-reel tape manufacturing and depositing other layers of the HTS coating systems.