Bill O’Byrne of the Dominion Post reports on high temperature superconductors (HTS), what they are, and the cutting edge work being done in the field by local scientists at Industrial Research Limited (IRL).
He also writes about this week’s ISIS-18 conference, happening in Wellington, which will bring together those involved in HTS commercialisation from Europe, the East, America and NZ.
An excerpt: (read in full here)
“Now Dr Buckley and his colleagues (scientists are ridiculously collegial and always emphasise the team side of things) have found themselves in the middle of the research and commercialisation of high-temperature superconductors (HTS), one of the weirder substances to come out of laboratories in a long while.
“What’s more, nobody is really sure why they work the way they do. One minute they’re conducting electricity like an orchestra conductor on P, but heat them up a bit more, and they slam shut on any sort of current.
“This week the ISIS Conference International Superconductivity Industry Summit is bringing experts in the field to Wellington to discuss the state of play with HTS. It’ll allow researchers to compare notes and bring people up to date with materials that 30 years ago weren’t even thought possible.