Condensed Matter Physics Commons^™

A Superconducting Compact Hydrogen Maser Resonator, David B. Opie

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The discovery of high critical temperature superconductors (HTSC) has raised the temperature at which the greatly reduced surface resistance, characteristic of superconducting materials, may be exploited. For microwave frequencies below 100 GHz, the surface resistance, R{dollar}\sb{lcub}s{rcub}{dollar}, at liquid nitrogen temperatures (77K) of the new HTSC materials is found to be better than copper measured at the same temperature and frequency. Consequently, the miniaturization of passive microwave components will be among the first applications of these new materials. This dissertation details the development, testing and evaluation of a superconducting compact hydrogen maser resonator made from electrophoretic Y{dollar}\sb1Ba\sb2Cu\sb3{dollar}O{dollar}\sb{lcub}7-\delta{rcub}{dollar} (YBCO). Such a resonator …