The invention lies within the field of ceramic technology, in particular ceramic production technology. Namely, it refers to modifier that alters the electrophysical and magnetic properties of ceramics, which is a product of technological processing of one or more batch mix components of the specified ceramic sample, the relevant ceramic sample, an intermediate product obtained after baking of the relevant ceramic sample, a known alloying agent, or a combination thereof. It also refers to the method for altering the electrical and magnetic properties of ceramics, according to which the dry batch mix is saturated with the claimed modifier, followed by baking and sintering according to the relevant ceramic sample production technology. The invention provides for the production of modified ceramics with improved electrical and magnetic properties, without the formation of impurity defects in the crystalline structure of the resulting ceramics.

An oxygen sensor element that can achieve electric power saving without losing sensor characteristics has a structure in which an outer surface of a ceramic sintered body as a sensing layer made of a composition LnBa.sub.2Cu.sub.3O.sub.7?? (Ln denotes rare earth element) is covered with heat insulating layers. A heat insulating material having a composition Ln.sub.2BaCuO.sub.5 is used for the heat insulating layers, and that composition Ln.sub.2BaCuO.sub.5 is added with 20 mol % of LnBa.sub.2Cu.sub.3O.sub.7??. This allows a sintering behavior of the heat insulating layers to come close to a sintering behavior of the sensing layer, and can thus prevent the occurrence of separation of the layers and cracks. The oxygen sensor element has a sandwich structure where the sensing layer is sandwiched between the heat insulating layers, thereby reducing the amount of heat dissipated from the sensing layer, and making it possible to achieve electric power saving.

The present invention provides an oxide superconducting bulk magnet which can obtain a sufficient amount of total magnetic flux, by preventing the superconducting bulk body from being broken due to electromagnetic stress and quenching phenomenon to enable magnetization by a strong magnetic field.

An oxide superconducting bulk magnet comprising

an oxide superconducting bulk body wherein RE.sub.2BaCuO.sub.5 is dispersed in a monocrystalline RE.sub.1Ba.sub.2Cu.sub.3O.sub.y; and

an outer peripheral reinforcing ring fitted to the outer periphery of the oxide superconducting bulk body,

wherein the outer peripheral reinforcing ring is made of a plurality of metal rings having a multiple ring structure in the radial direction,

at least one of the plurality of metal rings has a thermal conductivity of 20 W/(m.Math.K) or more at a temperature of 20 to 70 K and at least one of the plurality of metal rings has a higher strength than the metal ring having a thermal conductivity of 20 W/(m.Math.K) or more.

A superconducting wire according to an embodiment includes: a substrate; a first region provided on the substrate and containing a first rare earth element, Ba, Cu, and O; a second region provided on the substrate and containing a second rare earth element, Ba, Cu, and O; and a third region provided on the substrate, provided between the first region and the second region, and containing a third rare earth element, Pr, Ba, Cu, and O. A surface density of particles having an aspect ratio of 3 or more present on a surface of the third region is larger than a surface density of particles having an aspect ratio of 3 or more present on surfaces of the first region and the second region.

A superconducting composition of matter including overlapping first and second regions. The regions comprise unit cells of a solid, the first region comprises an electrical insulator or semiconductor, and the second region comprises a metallic electrical conductor. The second region extends through the solid and a subset of said second region comprise surface metal unit cells that are adjacent to at least one unit cell from the first region. The ratio of the number of said surface metal unit cells to the total number of unit cells in the second region being at least 20 percent.

An oxide superconductor of an embodiment includes an oxide superconducting layer including at least one superconducting region containing barium (Ba), copper (Cu) and a first rare earth element, having a continuous perovskite structure, and having a size of 100 nm100 nm100 nm or more, and a non-superconducting region in contact with the at least one superconducting region, containing praseodymium (Pr), barium (Ba), copper (Cu), and a second rare earth element, having a ratio of a number of atoms of the praseodymium (Pr) to a sum of a number of atoms of the second rare earth element and the number of atoms of the praseodymium (Pr) being 20% or more, having a continuous perovskite structure continuous with the continuous perovskite structure of the superconducting region, and having a size of 100 nm100 nm100 nm or more.

A superconducting coil of an embodiment includes a superconducting wire including an oxide superconductor layer. The oxide superconductor layer has a continuous Perovskite structure including rare earth elements, barium (Ba), and copper (Cu). The rare earth elements include a first element which is praseodymium (Pr), at least one second element selected from the group consisting of neodymium (Nd), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), and gadolinium (Gd), at least one third element selected from the group consisting of yttrium (Y), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), and holmium (Ho), and at least one fourth element selected from the group consisting of erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu).

An oxide superconductor of an embodiment includes an oxide superconductor layer having a continuous Perovskite structure including rare earth elements, barium (Ba), and copper (Cu). The rare earth elements include a first element which is praseodymium, at least one second element selected from the group consisting of neodymium, samarium, europium, and gadolinium, at least one third element selected from the group consisting of yttrium, terbium, dysprosium, and holmium, and at least one fourth element selected from the group consisting of erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium. When the number of atoms of the first element is N(PA), the number of atoms of the second element is N(SA), and the number of atoms of the fourth element is N(CA), 1.5(N(PA)+N(SA))N(CA) or 2(N(CA)N(PA))N(SA) is satisfied.

An oxide superconductor of an embodiment includes an oxide superconductor layer having a continuous Perovskite structure containing rare earth elements, barium (Ba), and copper (Cu). The rare earth elements contain a first element which is praseodymium (Pr), at least one second element selected from the group consisting of neodymium (Nd), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), and gadolinium (Gd), at least one third element selected from the group consisting of yttrium (Y), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), and holmium (Ho), and at least one fourth element selected from the group consisting of erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu).

A superconducting composition of matter including overlapping first and second regions. The regions comprise unit cells of a solid, the first region comprises an electrical insulator or semiconductor, and the second region comprises a metallic electrical conductor. The second region extends through the solid and a subset of said second region comprise surface metal unit cells that are adjacent to at least one unit cell from the first region. The ratio of the number of said surface metal unit cells to the total number of unit cells in the second region being at least 20 percent.