In this work we synthesized both MgB2 and Carbon doped MgB2 superconductor with Ag addition via high energy milling and substituent heat treatment. Heat treatments were performed at $900\;^{\circ}C$ for 30 min in flowing Ar gas. We varied amount of Ag powder. In a range of Ag powder was 0~5wt%. The effect of Ag was correlated with superconducting properties. The results show a slight decrease in critical temperature ($T_c$) and a reduction of critical current density ($J_c$) at high fields for the Ag-doped samples as compared to the un-doped samples. Reduction of $J_c$ may be due to the formation of MgAg compound.

The milling effects of a precursor $Y_2BaCuO_5$ (Y211) powder having 1 wt.% $CeO_2$ on the microstructure and critical current density ($J_c$) of liquid infiltration growth (LIG) processed $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-y}$ (Y-123) bulk superconductors were investigated. The microstructure analysis revealed that the Y211 size in the final Y-123 products decreased with increasing the milling time and a relatively high density and uniform distribution of Y211 inclusions were observed in the sample prepared using 8 h milled powder. However, the unexpected Y211 particles coarsening was observed from the 4 h milled sample which was further increased for 10 h milled sample. Critical current density ($J_c$) of the LIG processed Y-123 bulk superconductors was found to be dependent on the milling time of the Y211 precursor powder. The $J_c$ increased with the increase of milling time and reached up to a maximum at 8 h in the self field while 10 h milled sample showed lower $J_c$ at the same field which might be due to the exaggerated growth and non-uniform distribution of Y211 particles.

We have measured the trapped field of YBCO bulk with different configuration by applying the magnetic field of $Nb_3Sn$ superconducting magnet. Initially the circular type of YBCO bulk superconductor was prepared and then hole, parallel to the c-axis and located at the center of bulk was mechanically drilled. The YBCO bulk with hole was filled with resin. Typical size of hole in YBCO bulk was 10 mm in diameter. Trapped field characteristics were compared with different specimen conditions. Our preliminary result indicates the increment rate of trapped field, 0.232 kG, measured on the YBCO without hole was much higher than that, 0.011 kG, measured on YBCO with hole.

Distribution of local critical temperature and current density in $YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO) coated conductors was analyzed using a Low-temperature Scanning Laser Microscopy (LTSLM). We prepared YBCO coated conductors of various bridge types to study the spatial distribution of critical temperature and current density in single and multi bridges. An LTSLM system was modified for a detailed two-dimensional scan without shifting of the sample. We observed a spatial distribution of the critical temperature from the bolometric response, which arises from a focused laser beam at the sample near the superconducting transition. Also we studied the relation between the critical temperature and the current density.

A double line commutation (DLC) type SFCL with first peak limiting function has been proposed for ideal fault current limiting operation. Very fast switching (commutation) without any arc or high voltage problems for any kind of switching device is needed for the first peak current limiting. We've tried to find suitable conditions for a successful switching of a Vacuum Interrupter (VI) with HTS elements as a Peak Current limiting Resistance (PCR).

A superconductor flywheel energy storage system (SFES) is an electro-mechanical battery which transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy for storage, and vice versa. Many aspects of the quasi-static behavior of flywheel rotors still need to be studied closely, and the rotors require a stable and highly efficient supporting system such as high temperature superconductor (HTS) bearings, which offer dynamic stability without the use of active control. Quasi-static properties of HTS bearings in the radial direction provide data to solve problems which may occur in a running system. Since stiffness in countering rotor vibration is the main parameter for designing an HTS bearing system, we investigated the quasi-static properties of the magnetic force between permanent magnets(PMs) and HTS bulks in the radial direction. We measured radial stiffness, and discovered that bearing stiffness varied greatly depending on the number of active HTS bulks. This is valuable data for predicting the change in stiffness during partial HTS bearing failure. The quasi-static test results are used for optimal design and performance prediction for the 100 kWh class superconductor bearing.

Potassium doped $BaFe_2As_2$ superconducting thin films by using an ex situ pulsed laser deposition technique were fabricated in various conditions to find out an optimal growth condition. Controlled conditions were annealing temperature, annealing time, and mass of potassium. The $Ba_{1-x}K_xFe_2As_2$ thin films which has most good quality is fabricated at a condition of annealing temperature at $700^{\circ}C$, annealing time of 60 minutes, and 0.6 g of potassium lumps. In this condition we were able to fabricate good quality films with high transition temperature of ~ 39 K.

We have studied the anisotropy of the London penetration depth of carbon doped $MgB_2$ single crystals, which was obtained from reversible magnetization measurements with the magnetic field both parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis. Similar to the pure $MgB_2$, the anisotropy of the upper critical field ${\gamma}_H$ decrease with temperature while the anisotropy of the London penetration depth ${\gamma}_{\lambda}$ slowly increases with temperature. However, the temperature dependence of ${\gamma}_H$ is drastically reduced and the value of ${\gamma}_{\lambda}$ becomes nearly ~1 as C is introduced. These results indicate that C substitution increases impurity scattering mainly in the $\sigma$ bands. The temperature dependence of the anisotropies agree well with the theoretical predictions with impurity scattering.

Low temperature micro-calorimeters have been employed in the field of high resolution alpha spectrometers. These alpha detectors typically consist of a superconducting or metal absorber and a temperature sensor. The temperature sensor can be a transition edge sensor (TES), a metallic magnetic calorimeter (MMC) or other low temperature detectors for an accurate measurement of temperature change due to an alpha particle absorption. We report a recent study of the heat flow between a replaceable absorber and a temperature sensor. A piece of gold foil in $2.4{\times}2.7{\times}0.03\;mm^3$ is used as an absorber. A $40\;{\mu}m$ diameter Au:Er paramagnetic sensor is attached to another small piece of gold foil in $400{\times}200{\times}30\;{\mu}m^3$ to serve as the temperature sensor. This sensor assembly, Au:Er and gold foil, is placed on a miniature SQUID susceptometer in a gradiometric configuration. The thermal connection between the absorber and the sensor was made with three gold bonding wires. The measured thermal conductance shows a linear dependence to the temperature. The values are in a good agreement with Wiedemann-Franz type thermal conductance of the gold wires.

In the superconducting $Sr_2VO_3FeAs$, containing bimetallic layers, with maximum $T_c{\approx}\;46\;K$ correlation effects on V ions have been investigated using LDA+U method. Within the local density approximation (LDA) this system has the one-third filled $t_{2g}$ manifold of V, decomposed into $d_{xy}$ of bandwidth W=2 eV and nearly degenerate $d_{zx}d_{yz}$ of W=1 eV. Consideration of correlation effects leads to a metal-insulator transition on V ions $t^{2\uparrow}_{2g}\;{\rightarrow}\;d^{1\uparrow}_{xz}\;d^{1\uparrow}_{yz}$ at the critical on-site Coulomb repulsion $U_c$= 3.5 eV. At U=4 eV, the electronic structure, in which V ions are insulating, leads to several van Hove singularities near $E_F$ and similar Fermiology with other pnictides. Applying U to V ions results in increasing Fe moment as well as V moment, indicating somewhat hybridization between Fe and V ions even though this system is strongly 2-dimesional. Our results show possible importance of correlation effects on this system.

$^{13}C$ NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) measurements have been performed to investigate the local electronic structure of a superconducting graphite intercalation compound $CaC_6$ ($T_c$ = 11.4 K). A large number of single crystals were stacked and sealed in a quartz tube for naturally abundant $^{13}C$ NMR. The spectrum, Knight shift, linewidth, and spin-lattice relaxation time $T_1$ were measured in the normal state as a function of temperature down to 80 K at 8.0 T perpendicular to the c-axis. The $^{13}C$ NMR spectrum shows a single narrow peak with a very small Knight shift. The Knight shift and the linewidth of the $^{13}C$ NMR are temperature-independent around, respectively, +0.012% and 1.2 kHz. The spin-lattice relaxation rate, $1/T_1$, is proportional to temperature confirming a Korringa behavior as for non-magnetic metals. The Korringa product is measured to be $T_1T\;=\;210\;s{\cdot}K$. From this value, the Korringa ratio is deduced to be $\xi$ = 0.73, close to unity, which suggests that the independent-electron description works well for $CaC_6$, without complications arising from correlation and many-body effects.

We have developed a whole-head MEG system for basic brain research and clinical application. The sensor system consists of a 152 SQUID gradiometer array oriented and located in a suitable way to cover a whole head of the human. The system measures magnetic fields generated by neuronal currents in the brain to get information on the brain activities. For this purpose, the field sensitivity determined by the position, orientation and geometry of the pickup coil as well as amplification factor of the electronic circuits should be known precisely. However, the position and orientation of the pickup coil might be changed from the designed specifications during cool down of the dewar and it is necessary to characterize the field sensitivity. In this study, we made calibration systems to determine the actual position and orientation of the 152 pickup coils and compared the localization results of the N100m source in the auditory cortex.

We investigated the voltage applicable to $Au/YBa_2Cu3O_7$ (YBCO) meander lines. The meander line was fabricated by patterning Au/YBCO thin films grown on sapphire substrates by photolithography. It was subjected to simulated AC fault currents, and the resistance was measured and analyzed. The samples were immersed in liquid nitrogen during the experiment for effective cooling. The voltage applicable to the meander lines depended on the fault duration. Dependence was strong at short fault durations, and weak at long durations. When the voltage was plotted as a function of the fault duration on a log-log scale, data fell more or less on straight lines for all meander lines. In other words, the voltage applicable to Au/YBCO meander lines on sapphire substrates was inversely proportional to $t^b$, where t is the fault duration and b ranges from 0.4 to 0.5. The results were analyzed quantitatively with the concept of heat balance. Under adiabatic condition, the voltage is to be inversely proportional to $t^{0.5}$ for all samples. Less value of b for some samples is thought to be due to cooling of the samples by liquid nitrogen.

Y123 films have been deposited on $LaAlO_3$ (100) single-crystal and IBAD substrates by spray pyrolysis method using nitrate precursors. Ultrasonic atomization was adopted to decrease the droplet size, spraying angle and its moving velocity toward substrate for introducing the preheating tube furnace in appropriate location. A small preheating tube furnace was installed between spraying nozzle and substrate for fast drying and enhanced decomposition of precursors. C-axis oriented films were obtained on both LAO and IBAD substrates at deposition temperature of around $710{\sim}750^{\circ}C$ and working pressures of 10~15 torr. Thick c-axis epitaxial film with the thickness of $0.3{\sim}0.6\;{\mu}m$ was obtained on LAO single-crystal by 10 min deposition. But the XRD results of the film deposited on IBAD template at same deposition condition showed that the buffer layers of the IBAD metal substrate was affected by long residence of metal substrate at high temperature for YBCO deposition.