NONCONTACT, HIGH-RESOLUTION, THERMAL WAVE DETECTION OF SUPERCONDUCTIVE TRANSITIONS IN HIGH CRITICAL TEMPERATURE MATERIAL

DEVELOPMENTS TO DATE IN THE FIELD OF HIGH CRITICAL TEMPERATURE (T(C)) SUPERCONDUCTORS HAVE BEEN VERY EXCITING. HOWEVER, PRACTICAL MATERIALS AND DEVICES ARE STILL FAR FROM A REALITY. THE CERAMIC SUPERCONDUCTORS ARE HETEROGENEOUS MULTIPHASE MATERIALS, AND THEIR SUPERCONDUCTING PROPERTIES APPEAR TO BE SENSITIVELY DEPENDENT ON THE LOCAL MICROSCOPIC NATURE OF THE MATERIAL. IT WOULD BE OF CONSIDERABLE VALUE BOTH TO THE THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THIS NEW PHENOMENONAND TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF BETTER SUPERCONDUCTOR MATERIALS IF MORE WERE KNOWN ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCAL SUPERCONDUCTING PROPERTIES AND THE LOCAL STRUCTURAL AND CHEMICAL PARAMETERS. A NOVEL METHOD OF DETECTING THE ONSET OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY ON A MICROSCOPIC SCALE WILL EMPLOY A LASER-BASED THERMAL WAVE TECHNIQUE. PHASE I OF THIS PROJECTWILL DEMONSTRATE THE CAPABILITY OF THE METHOD TO DETECT THE ONSET OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY IN HIGH T(C) SUPERCONDUCTORS IN ANONCONTACT, NONDAMAGING FASHION WITH MICRONSCALE RESOLUTION.