Argonne at 50

Argonne's superconductor research continues to lead

ARGONNE, Ill. (July 28, 1996) -- Nine years ago today, President Ronald Reagan, attending a scientific conference in the nation's capitol, received an up-close look at how high-temperature superconductors work from Alan Schriesheim, who was then director and chief executive officer of Argonne National Laboratory.

At the time, high-temperature superconductors were riding a wave of public interest. Discovered only a year before, they were considered new wonder materials because they can conduct electrical current with no energy loss when cooled by liquid nitrogen, a common industrial chemical that costs about the same as beer.

They promised such technological advances as more efficient electric motors and generators, magnetic energy-storage devices, smaller and faster computers, and power lines that could carry electricity hundreds of miles with little or no energy loss.

Their high economic potential generated an international race among Germany, Japan and the United States to develop and market long lengths of practical wire from high-temperature superconductors.

In that climate, Schriesheim's role in demonstrating these new wonders to the president symbolized Argonne's long-recognized position as a national leader in superconductivity research.

Today, the hopes initially held out for high-temperature superconductors have yet to be realized. The materials proved to be brittle and hard to shape into long wires that could carry practical amounts of electrical current along their full length.

But Argonne is still a leader in moving them toward the day when they will be a major part of the American technology marketplace. Recently, for example, Argonne and the University of Pittsburgh announced a new technology that produces wires with greater current carrying ability than that achieved by other methods.

Other Argonne accomplishments in this field include:

• Argonne scientists were the first Americans to extrude wire from high-temperature superconductors.

• Argonne scientists were the first in the world to successfully put electrical current through wire made from yttrium-barium-copper oxide, the first widely studied example of the new superconductors.

• Argonne and Commonwealth Research Corp. developed the world's most efficient bearing, which is based on high-temperature superconductors.

• Argonne and Intermagnetics General Corp. have twice broken the world record for the strongest magnetic field generated by a high-temperature superconductor.

• Illinois Superconductor Corp., a publicly traded company that is marketing superconducting products, is based on six Argonne patents and one Northwestern University patent.

• Argonne was the first national laboratory to develop a superconducting technology licensed exclusively to a private firm . American Superconductor Corp., Watertown, Mass., received exclusive license to develop and market an Argonne-developed technology for making flexible superconducting wire.

• Argonne led a national survey to assess the potential economic impact of high-temperature superconductors in fields such as electrical power generation and transmission, electrical motors, computers and other electronic devices, magnetic energy storage, transportation, and medical diagnosis.

• Argonne patented the world's first electrical motor based on high-temperature superconductors.

• Argonne was first to determine the precise crystalline structure of yttrium-barium-copper oxide.

Argonne is also a partner in the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Superconductivity, a joint research effort with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University. The center's research includes superconductivity theory, chemical synthesis, study of basic properties, growth of superconducting materials, thin films, ceramic processing and bulk properties.

Even before the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, Argonne was a world leader in studying and using low-temperature superconductors-- materials that must be cooled by liquid helium to nearly absolute zero before they conduct electricity without energy loss. Notable accomplishments in low-temperature superconductivity include:

• In the 1950s, Argonne built the 12-foot bubble chamber, the world's first large particle detector for high-energy physics to use superconducting technology.

• Argonne developed the world's first heavy-ion linear accelerator to use superconducting technology.

• Argonne holds a patent on a superconducting transistor.

With this record of accomplishment, it's no wonder that for several years Argonne has had the nation's largest publicly funded superconductivity research program.

The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory conducts basic and applied scientific research across a wide spectrum of disciplines, ranging from high-energy physics to climatology and biotechnology. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations to help advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for the future. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Catherine Foster (630/252-5580 or cfoster@anl.gov) at Argonne.