Development of Nano-Structured HTSC for Application in Medicine

Microscopy is very important in scientific research, particularly in the development of new materials for several engineering applications including medicine. The recently developed high-Tc superconducting materials and their performance at higher magnetic fields and higher temperatures are crucial important for real applications. The performance properties are mainly controlled by nanostructures within the materials. The experimental results clarified that the demand to operate at the economical liquid nitrogen temperature and in high magnetic fields (> 15 T, H//c-axis) is only possible by controlling and tailoring the nanostructures during the growth process. The scanning tunneling microscope (STM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and dynamic force microscopy (DFM) analysis enabled to optimize the material performance by a thorough analysis of the nanostructures. As a result, the newly developed LRE-123 bulk material were observed to have an extraordinary performance up to the liquid oxygen temperature. Further, calculated trapped field values using experimental Jc-B data and numerical simulation for NEG-123 with 30 mol% Gd-211 (70 nm particles) clarified that nanostructures are the key to improve the performance of the materials around liquid nitrogen temperature. The present results indicate that the melt-processed high-Tc superconductor material will enable to construct superconducting super-magnets for several industrial uses including medical applications.