High-performance Fe-based superconducting materials for high magnetic field applications

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Bernhard Holzapfel
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics ; Synthesis and Properties of Functional Materials
• Term: from 2019 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 410414581

High-field magnets are important tools for medical diagnostics as well as the characterization of material properties and are indispensable for many research areas. Providing highest magnetic fields up to technical feasibility limits is a crucial prerequisite for outstanding basic and applied research. Superconducting materials are the key ingredient for generating strong magnetic fields, and so far the classic superconductors NbTi and NbSn3 limit the available magnetic field strength to about 21 T. Besides the cuprate-based high-temperature superconductors, the recently discovered Fe-based superconductors might open the possibility to shift the accessible upper field limit to much higher values. The proposed project will address this target to develop and test the worldwide first Fe-based superconducting high magnetic field insert coil by combining the expertise of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in the fields of physics, materials sciences, and engineering. The research group at the Institute for Technical Physics (ITEP) at KIT will contribute to this goal with its material expertise and will study and improve the superconducting critical current properties in high magnetic fields. The research group at the Institute for Electrical Engineering (IE-CAS) will develop and synthesize high-Jc wires, which can be used to realize a superconducting high-field insert coil.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: China
• Partner Organisation: National Natural Science Foundation of China
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Yanwei Ma