But who know, perhaps someday they could work together. Those building these probably never envisioned the nuclear-power spacecraft.
Posted on 10/09/2008 5:24:04 AM PDT by shove_it
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have developed ultrathin films that when sandwiched together form a superconductor, an advance that could lead to a new class of fast, power-saving electronics.
The films can be used at relatively high temperatures for superconductors, making them easier to handle and produce, they said on Wednesday.
"What we have done is we have put together two materials, neither of which is a superconductor, and we found their interface -- where they touch -- is superconducting," said physicist Ivan Bozovic of the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, in a telephone interview.
"This superconducting layer is extremely thin. It is thinner than 1 nanometer, which is 1 billionth of a meter," added Bozovic, whose findings appear in the journal Nature.
"It opens vistas for further progress, including using these techniques to significantly enhance superconducting properties in other known or new superconductors."
Like their name implies, superconductors are useful because they are extremely efficient at conducting electricity...
(Excerpt) Read more at tech.yahoo.com ...
bump
In other words, there is no practical use for them, and there was no need for a press release at this time.
....and what ultra-low temperature is that? -100 degC?
At 50 Kelvin, the superconducting film is close to the point where it could be cooled inexpensively by liquid nitrogen, which cools to 77 Kelvin or minus 321.07 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 196.15 degrees Celsius).
Wow...such practicality. Wonder if they made this with a practical end-use in mind or just to see if they could.
I’m guessing the latter.
Grant time ;-}
The superconductors used in a magnetic resonance imaging or MRI machine, for example, must be cooled with liquid helium to keep them at 4 on the Kelvin scale, or near absolute zero minus 452.47 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 269.15 degrees Celsius).
A very interesting result ... which, I'm guessing, could potentially have implications beyond superconduction. There's something "magic" about that interface that frees up the electrons somehow.
Wouldn't it be cool if you could find a way to acess that interface in a way that generates electricity, rather than just transmits it? (Maybe some sort of thermocouple arrangement...)
Ceramic superconductors have a critical temperature above 90K and can be cooled with liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is cheap. Unfortunately, ceramic superconductors are unsuitable for magnets; they cannot be made into wire.
These thin-film superconductors might very well be suitable for making wire (or something like wire). They might also be adaptable to use in chips. If their critical temperature can be got into the 70s K, they could be cooled with LN2 (and a sterling cryocooler). If the critical temperature could be got above 77K the cryocooler is no longer needed, straight LN2 will do.
Superconductor research has several very practical applications. There have been lots of dead ends, maybe this approach will lead somewhere.
The article doesn’t say, but LN2 is about an order of magnitude cheaper to use than LHe, it’s easier to transport, easier to work with, easier to make, and comes from an essentially endless supply.
You mean a different version of a perpetual motion machine?
Well that would be sweet, but no. Thermocouples are already used to generate electricity (e.g., in nuclear-powered spacecraft), but at very low efficiency.
What I'm thinking is that perhaps this approach could make more efficient thermocouples possible.
But who know, perhaps someday they could work together. Those building these probably never envisioned the nuclear-power spacecraft.
Do you have more info on that widget? I’m a mite curious about that one.
Not much, I grabbed it from this page.
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/POWER/thermoelectric/thermoelectric.htm
Scroll down for a couple actual pictures and a very brief description.
Thanks!
Wow. The application which suggests itself is microelectronics - possibly a computer chip which would be refrigerated via reverse thermocouple action to the 50 degrees K operating temperature, but which would have blinding fast clock rate . . .
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