3 ms·
I remember being in high school and visiting the large magnet facility in Tallahassee at FSU (you know, where they levitate frogs). They explained to us that th
by scythe 6y ago
I remember being in high school and visiting the large magnet facility in Tallahassee at FSU (you know, where they levitate frogs). They explained to us that the superconducting coils were made of niobium-titanium alloy, and I remember asking: "aren't there better superconductors?". The answer was yes, there are, but they're insanely difficult to make or something, so we don't consider it practical, "maybe someday".
It looks like "someday" finally got here -- the cuprates are being used in practice.
- zafka 6y agoAre there any startups working on the material science side of making these magnets? It seems like a very tight engineering team might do well here.
- elihu 6y agoIn one of the SPARC talk videos I think someone asked who makes the Rebco film, and the speaker said there were a handful of small companies around the world. I don't remember if he was any more specific than that, but anyways it seems it's kind of a novelty low-volume product at this point. I assume with demand picking up that manufacturing capacity is going to grow along with it. Low temperature superconductors in general is, of course, an active area of research. There may be better alternatives to Rebco just waiting to be discovered.