Industry warms to superconductors

While theorists have been battling to understand high-temperature superconductivity, industrialists have been developing a wide range of devices that are set to enter a global marketplace that is potentially worth billions of dollars. Many applications of high-temperature superconductors have been prototyped in recent years. These applications divide into two categories: wire based and film based. In both cases, wider issues involving cryogenics, the interface between the high-temperature superconductor and the ambient environment, so-called fringing fields and nonlinear scale-up issues have been addressed. The author focus just on the wire-based applications: HTS power cables, transformers, motors and magnets. (UK)