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When chilled to 77 kelvins (–321 degrees Fahrenheit) or colder, so-called high-temperature superconductors such as the ceramic YBCO (yttrium barium copper oxide) begin to carry electricity without resistance, which produces a strong magnetic field without wasting energy. Liquid hydrogen (20 K, or –424 degrees F) could chill the superconductor as well as power a hydrogen fuel cell to send electricity through it, he and co-workers report in the journal Superconductor Science and Technology. Masson says that based on their designs, a YBCO turbine would generate as much power as a single-engine Cessna aircraft for roughly half of the mass. A...

The new state is a solid filled with a collection of energy particles known as polaritons that have been trapped and slowed, explained lead investigator David Snoke, an associate professor in the physics and astronomy department in Pitt's School of Arts and Sciences. Snoke worked with Pitt graduate students Ryan Balili and Vincent Hartwell on the project. Using specially designed optical structures with nanometer-thick layers-which allow polaritons to move freely inside the solid-Snoke and his colleagues captured the polaritons in the form of a superfluid. In superfluids and in their solid counterparts, superconductors, matter consolidates to act as a single...

Levitation becomes possible using superconducting materials In 1987 Ronald Reagan declared that the US was about to enter an incredible new era of technology.Levitating high-speed trains, super-efficient energy generators and ultra-powerful supercomputers would become commonplace thanks to a new breed of materials known as high temperature superconductors (HTSC). "The breakthroughs in superconductivity bring us to the threshold of a new age," said Reagan. "It's our task to herald in that new age with a rush." But 20 years on, the new world does not seem to have arrived. So, what happened? Early promise Superconductivity was first discovered in 1911...

Sci/Tech > Computers & Technology from the December 23, 2004 edition Superconductors ready to ramp up for the real world By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor The Energizer bunny has nothing on Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. Nearly a century ago, the Dutch physicist stunned the scientific world when he discovered that if he chilled certain metals to extremely low temperatures, electricity raced through them without losing any energy. There was just one catch: The metals had to be frozen to such frigid temperatures that the technology made no commercial sense. Related stories 10/14/04 More zip...

<p>The executives at Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. know a thing or two about guanxi, the web of connections that fuel so much of business in China. The Shanghai-based company was co-founded by Jiang Mianheng, the son of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. The other co-founder is Taiwan-born Winston Wong, whose father Y.C. Wang runs petrochemical maker Formosa Plastics and is probably the island's most powerful businessman. That's not to say the two don't have pretty solid credentials: Wong founded Nanya Technology Corp. in Taiwan, while Jiang has a PhD in physics from Drexel University in Philadelphia and is vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Science. But as they set out to raise the billions of dollars needed to start a semiconductor company, their true-blue bloodlines didn't hurt.</p>

PHYSICS A Philosopher's Stone COULD SUPERCONDUCTORS TRANSMUTE ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION INTO GRAVITATIONAL WAVES? BY GEORGE MUSSER MAKINGWAVES Like an ordinary magnetic field, a gravitomagnetic field exerts a force on moving masses at right angles to their velocity. The rotating earth, for example, generates a gravitomagnetic field that torques satellite orbits, as observations over the past several years have confirmed. The Gravity Probe B satellite, scheduled for launch early next year, should precisely measure this effect, which is also known as the Lense-Thirring effect, or "frame dragging." Even if Chiao's contraption works, it wouldn't allow the generation of antigravity fields, as...