A hybrid electrodynamic levitation system that utilizes both superconducting and conductive tracks. The hybrid system reduces the overall drag induced upon the system and reduces the amount of power required to achieve operating speeds, while resolving the issue of requiring velocity relative to the track for levitation. The total initial and operating costs of the hybrid system can be lower than utilizing a superconductive or conductive track alone, while still enabling a fail-safe levitation system for high speed transportation.

A superconducting wire according to the present disclosure includes: a base material; a superconductor layer formed on each of the respective surfaces of the base material; and a conductive protection layer formed on each of the surfaces of the respective superconductor layers. The thickness of each of the conductive protection layers is 5% or less of the skin depth when a high-frequency current flows through the superconducting wire. The material for forming the conductive protection layer may be, for example, silver.

In a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire connection assembly in which HTS wires each including a HTS layer are connected to each other, a first HTS wire and a second HTS wire that face each other are connected to each other at a plurality of joint portions separated from each other along a longitudinal direction of the first HTS wire and the second HTS wire. Each of the plurality of joint portions may preferably have any one of a rectangle shape, a rounded rectangle shape, and an ellipse shape, and it is preferable to satisfy 0.1<L/W<1.5, and is more preferable to satisfy 0.25<L/W<0.75 when a length in the longitudinal direction of the HTS wire is taken as L and a length in a width direction of the HTS wire is taken as W. It is also preferable that W and/or L monotonously increase from upstream side toward downstream side along the longitudinal direction of the wire.

Provided is a connection body of high-temperature superconducting wire materials including a first oxide high-temperature superconducting wire material and a second oxide high-temperature superconducting wire material, characterized in that a first superconducting layer of the first oxide high-temperature superconducting wire material and a second superconducting layer of the second oxide high-temperature superconducting wire material are bonded together via a junction including M-Cu—O (wherein M is a single metal element or a plurality of metal elements included in the first superconducting layer or the second superconducting layer). The connection body may be, for example, a connection body of Bi2223 wire materials, and the junction may include CaCuO.sub.2.

An oxide superconducting wire includes a superconductor laminate including an oxide superconducting layer on at least one surface of a base material, and a plating layer which is included in a stabilizing layer of the superconductor laminate and formed by plating. A surface roughness Ra of the plating layer is 1.0 μm or more and 2.0 μm or less. An entire average crystal grain size of the plating layer is 0.86 μm or more and 3.05 μm or less.

An oxide superconducting wire includes a superconducting laminate including an oxide superconducting layer disposed, either directly or indirectly, on a substrate, and a stabilization layer which is a Cu plating layer covering an outer periphery of the superconducting laminate, and a Vickers hardness of the Cu plating layer is in the range of 80 to 190 HV.

This disclosure teaches methods for making high-temperature superconducting striated tape combinations and the product high-temperature superconducting striated tape combinations. This disclosure describes an efficient and scalable method for aligning and bonding two superimposed high-temperature superconducting (HTS) filamentary tapes to form a single integrated tape structure. This invention aligns a bottom and top HTS tape with a thin intervening insulator layer with microscopic precision, and electrically connects the two sets of tape filaments with each other. The insulating layer also reinforces adhesion of the top and bottom tapes, mitigating mechanical stress at the electrical connections. The ability of this method to precisely align separate tapes to form a single tape structure makes it compatible with a reel-to-reel production process.

A superconductor tape and method for manufacturing, measuring, monitoring, and controlling same are disclosed. Embodiments are directed to a superconductor tape which includes a superconductor film overlying a buffer layer which overlies a substrate. In one embodiment, the superconductor film is defined as having a c-axis lattice constant higher than 11.74 Angstroms. In another embodiment, the superconductor film comprises BaMO.sub.3, where M=Zr, Sn, Ta, Nb, Hf, or Ce, and which has a (101) peak of BaMO.sub.3 elongated along an axis that is between 60° to 90° from an axis of the (001) peaks of the superconductor film. These and other embodiments achieve well-aligned nanocolumnar defects and thus a high lift factor, which can result in superior critical current performance of the tape in, for example, high magnetic fields.

A superconducting coil includes: a winding member 12 that has a side surface 18 along a coil radial direction and is formed by laminating a superconducting tape wire 20 in the coil radial direction by winding; and a bypass 19 that is provided on the side surface 18 of the winding member 12 and electrically connects the superconducting tape wire 20 in the coil radial direction.

A superconductor tape and method for manufacturing, measuring, monitoring, and controlling same are disclosed. Embodiments are directed to a superconductor tape which includes a superconductor film overlying a buffer layer which overlies a substrate. In one embodiment, the superconductor film is defined as having a c-axis lattice constant higher than 11.74 Angstroms. In another embodiment, the superconductor film comprises BaMO.sub.3, where M=Zr, Sn, Ta, Nb, Hf, or Ce, and which has a (101) peak of BaMO.sub.3 elongated along an axis that is between 60° to 90° from an axis of the (001) peaks of the superconductor film. These and other embodiments achieve well-aligned nanocolumnar defects and thus a high lift factor, which can result in superior critical current performance of the tape in, for example, high magnetic fields.