Preparation Techniques for Practical High T sub c Superconductors

The discovery of high temperature superconductors offers a potential for significant technological applications, and has caused unprecedented excitement and explosion of research and development. For practical bulk applications, the HTSC materials should possess sufficient current- carrying capability in high fields, and should be fabricated into desired shapes such as wires, torroids, or solenoids. While some of the inherent materials problems (e.g., weak-link behavior, anisotropic superconductivity and thermal contraction, brittleness, etc.) hindered the R&D effort toward major applications, significant progress has nevertheless been made in both J sub c and fabrication areas.