NOVEL FABRICATION OF SUPERCONDUCTING ANTENNA STRUCTURES FOR SPACE APPLICATIONS.

WE WILL DEVELOP AND FABRICATE, USING EXPLOSIVE (SHOCK-WAVE) FABRICATION TECHNIQUES, SIMPLE, MONOLITHIC, PLANAR, SANDWICHARRAYS OF SUPERCONDUCTING Y BA2 CU3 O7 POWDER OR POWDER MIXTURE IN A COPPER MATRIX. THESE BULK, SUPERCONDUCTING ARRAYS WILL, IN THE PROPOSED PHASE I RESEARCH, SERVE AS PROTOTYPES FOR SIMPLE ANTENNA AND RELATED MICROWAVE (R.F.) COMMUNICATION APPLICATIONS. SIMPLE EVALUATIONS OF SUCH ARRAY FEASIBILITIES WILL BE BASED ON SURFACE RESISTANCE MEASUREMENTS AT 77K OVER A RANGE OF 0.5 TO 5 GHZ. THE EFFECT OF MIXING METAL POWDERS SUCH AS COPPER OR SILVER ON THE SUPERCONDUCTING Y BA2 CU3 O7 SURFACE RESISTANCE WILL ALSO BE EVALUATED AS A POSSIBLE MECHANISM OF ENGINEERING SUCH SUPERCONDUCTING APPLICATIONS. THESE SUPERCONDUCTING SANDWICH ARRAYS WILL DEMONSTRATE SCALE-UP POTENTIAL TO BE PURSUED IN PHASE II, AND SERVE AS PRACTICAL PRECURSORS FOR SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EFFICIENCY AND OPERATION OF SUPERCONDUCTING SINGLE-BEAM ANTENNA CONFIGURATIONS AND RELATED SPACE APPLICATIONS OF BULK SUPERCONDUCTORS.