Book Description:
Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to conduct electrical current with no resistance and extremely low losses. High temperature superconductors, such as La2-xSrxCuOx (Tc=40K) and YBa2Cu3O7-x (Tc=90K), were discovered in 1987 and have been actively studied since that time. In spite of an intense, world-wide research effort, a complete understanding of the copper oxide (cuprate) materials is still lacking. Many fundamental questions are unanswered, particularly the mechanism by which high-Tc superconductivity occurs. More broadly, the cuprates are in a class of solids with strong electron-electron interactions. An understanding of such "strongly correlated" solids is perhaps the major unsolved problem of condensed matter physics with over ten thousand researchers working on this topic.
High-Tc superconductors also have significant potential for applications in technologies ranging from electric power generation and transmission to digital electronics. This ability to carry large amounts of current can be applied to electric power devices such as motors and generators, and to electricity transmission in power lines. For example, superconductors can carry as much as 100 times the amount of electricity of ordinary copper or aluminum wires of the same size.

This publication presents new research on yttrium barium copper oxide superconductors, often abbreviated YBCO, which is a chemical compound with the formula YBa2Cu3O7. This material, a famous "high-temperature superconductor", achieved prominence because it was the first material to superconduct above the boiling point of nitrogen.
All materials developed before YBCO became superconducting only at temperatures near the boiling points of liquid helium or liquid hydrogen (Tb = 20.1 K). The significance of the discovery of YBCO is the breakthrough in the refrigerant used to cool the material to below the critical temperature.

Table of Contents:
Preface

Expert Commentary

Some Comments on the 2-Dimensional EEM Theory and What Are Predicted On the High Temperature Superconducting Properties; pp. 3-8
(C.C. Lam, City University of Hong Kong, K.W. Wong, University of Kansas)

Research and Review Studies

Chapter 1 - Transport Properties of YBa_2Cu_3 O_{7-delta} Superconductors and Electronic Structure of Cu_2 O Surfaces;
pp. 11-51
(Andrew Das Arulsamy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Australia, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, University of Malaya, Malaysia, Aloysius Soon, Catherine Stampfl, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Australia)

Chapter 2 - Large-Area Pulsed Laser Deposition of YBA2CU3O7-¦Ä Thin Films: Microstructure and Current Properties; pp. 53-92
(K. Develos Bagarinao, H.Yamasaki, Energy Technology Research Institute, National Institute Of Advanced Insdustrial Science and Technology, Japan)

Chapter 3 - Cube Textured Nickel-Based Substrates for Buffer/YBCO Coatings; pp. 93-126
(Jorg Eickemeyer, Bernhard Holzapfel, Leibniz-Institut fur Festkorper-und Werkstoffforschung Dresden, Germany)

Chapter 4 - Magnetic Properties and Critical Current of YBA2 Cu3 O7-s Superconductors; pp. 127-144
(Rongchao Ma, Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Canada, Yuefei Ma, Xiamen Tungsten Co., China)

Chapter 5 - Nonlinear Elasticity and the Low Temperature Thermal Expansion in LSCO and NCCO Superconductors; pp. 145-170
(K.P. Jayachandran, IDMEC-Instituto de Engenharia Mecanica, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal, C.S. Menon, School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, India)

Chapter 6 - Noise, Transport and Magnetic Properties: A Comparative Study in YBa2Cu3O7ỉ¨k and Bi1: 65Pb0:35Sr2Ca2 Cu3O10+¨k Superconductors; pp. 171-197
(Ernesto Govea Alcaide, Pedro Muné Bandera, University de Oriente, Patricio Lummumba, Cuba, Ivan García Fornaris, University de Granma, Cuba)

Chapter 7 - Magnetic Pinning in High Temperature Superconductors and MgB2 Composites; pp. 199-215
(N.M. Suleimanov, P.N. Togoulev, E.K. Zavoisky, Physical-Technical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Sibirsky Trakt, Kazan, Russian Federation)

Index