Optical imaging methods for qualification of superconducting wires

In order to develop 2nd generation (2G) high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires as commercial products, it is necessary to perform a high speed investigation of their superconducting performance. Room-temperature and non-contact optical scanning tools are necessary to verify the microstructure of the superconducting materials, the current flow below the critical temperature, and the critical current density. In this paper, we report our results of an inspection of the electrical transport properties of coated conductors. The samples that we used in our study were highly qualified rare-earth based coated conductors produced via co-evaporation, and $SmBa_2Cu_3O_{7-y}$ (SmBCO) was the superconducting materials used in our studies. A film grown on IBAD-MgO templates shows larger than 400 A/cm at 77 K and a self-field. The local transport properties of the films were investigated by room-temperature imaging by thermal heating. The room-temperature images show structural inhomogeneities on the surface of the films. Bolometric response imaging via low-temperature bolometric microscopy was used to construct the local current mapping at the surface. These results indicate that the non-uniform regions on the surface disturb the current flow, and laser scanning images at room-temperature and at a low-temperature suggest a correlation between the structural properties and transport properties. Thus this method can be effective to evaluate the quality of the coated conductors.