Separation Science and Technology User Facility

Facility Description

The High Temperature Superconductivity User Facility consists of 10,000 square feet of laboratories and offices in Building One of the Los Alamos Research Park. Research and development are conducted within this space on processes for fabrication of high temperature superconducting tapes, measurement of the physical and electronic properties of superconductors, and development and demonstration of applications using the superconductors.

The STC is the newest of approximately 40 LANL User Facilities available for use by outside organizations. Users access the equipment in order to fabricate, calibrate, test, and evaluate products and processes. The user directs the activity described within the User Facility agreement for use of the DOE-approved facility and pays the full cost recovery for using the facility.

Equipment

Equipment is available to perform the following tasks:

• electropolish and clean metal tapes
• deposit thin films on moving tapes using ion beam assisted deposition, electron beam evaporation, and pulsed laser ablation
• characterize the films for defects and current carrying capability using advanced x-ray diffraction apparatus
• measure current in kilometer-length tapes
• measure AC losses in superconducting cables

Potential Users

Companies that could benefit from collaborating with LANL in this User Facility include companies that

• manufacture the superconducting tape
• build transmission cables
• make electrical generators, motors, and transformers
• are in the magnetic resonance imaging business
• manufacture magnets for accelerators, levitated trains, magnetic separators
• build fault current limiters and current leads

This technology will quite literally change the way the world moves electricity, significantly reducing dependence on fossil fuel. Now is the time to "get on board" with high temperature superconductors and work side by side with the scientists and engineers who have brought these materials from laboratory curiosities to commercially viable products.

Facility Access:

Open access to users.

Technical Contact
Dean Peterson
MST-STC
Mail Stop: K763
Phone: 505-665-3030
Fax: 505-665-3164
E-mail Address: dpeterson@lanl.gov