This would save enormous amounts of electricity, since as much as 30 percent of electricity produced is lost through the transmission process. HTSC were discovered in1986, but since they are ceramics, they are brittle and difficult to make into wires. In addition, they cannot simply be deposited onto metals, because the HTSC ceramic grains must be closely aligned to function. The researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a technique for modifying the texture of the metal so that the grains will line up. The amount of oxygen in this material is crucial to its superconducting properties, and the present method of determining the amount, X-ray diffraction, is slow and complicated.
Raman spectroscopy uses the intense light from a high-power laser to probe materials.
Some of the light that is emitted from the sample after it is hit by the laser reveals the material's composition, and this information can be quickly analyzed. If this research is successful, the problem of monitoring oxygen content during the mass production of high-performance HTSC wires would be solved. The linked boxes below provide descriptions of department laboratories, and staff qualifications and interests and other data concerning research capabilities and programs.