Physics

Biography

Biography: Gaia Grimaldi

Abstract

Super conductors can conduct electricity at a very low temperature where no energy is dissipated by resistive heating, so
superconductors can carry current with 100% efficiency. Actually the use of superconducting technology can make smaller,
lighter and more powerful equipments that can improve a power system's stability, reliability, quality and safety. As far as
energy power applications are concerned, the stability of the superconducting state becomes relevant for the operation of
these devices. Unfortunately, superconductivity becomes unstable under sufficiently high bias currents. Not only the highest
critical currents are required but also quenching phenomena need to be prevented in order to get the best performance of any
superconducting device. Typically this instability is observed in the current voltage characteristics as an abrupt voltage jump to
the normal state, which turns into a current driving quench event. Therefore such instability study arises as a valuable tool to
test the high current carrying capability of a superconductor. Experimental studies are performed in extremely high magnetic
fields and low temperatures as a function of the direction of the applied magnetic field in our Advanced Material Science and
Technology Research Master Labs. Here it is reported an overall study on different materials from low temperature to high
temperature and iron-based superconductors. The present technique can be employed as a direct tool to validate the stability
of superconducting materials for energy efficient technology.