Current distribution in wide YBCO tapes

The need of a better mechanical behaviour and the stabilization of coated conductors for applications, as Magnets, cables or Fault Current Limiters, has motivated the lamination of tapes with stainless steel or copper alloys, increasing so the elastic modulus of the conductors and their mechanical performance. Some of the stainless steels used are magnetic, thus introducing some perturbations of the current flow when energizing the conductor. In order to detect these possible perturbations, the magnetic self field in the surface of the tape has been explored by Hall mapping technique at several current loads in a monotonically driven cyclic sequence. By increasing current steps when loading up, crossing the critical field threshold, and decreasing down to remanent state. Deviation from the expected magnetic map has been observed. In this work, we will report on the resulting measurements, and the current flow is calculated by solving the inverse problem for a 12 mm wide stainless steel reinforced Coated Conductor tape. We discuss on the likely origin of the observed perturbations.We would like to acknowledge the support of Nanoselect project of the CONSOLIDER program, and EU-FP7-ECCOFLOW project, and Xermae

Augmented state Kalman filtering for AUV navigation

This paper addresses the problem of estimating the motion of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), while it constructs a visual map (“mosaic ” image) of the ocean floor. The vehicle is equipped with a down-looking camera which is used to compute its motion with respect to the seafloor. As the mosaic increases in size, a systematic bias is introduced in the alignment of the images which form the mosaic. Therefore, this accumulative error produces a drift in the estimation of the position of the vehicle. When the arbitrary trajectory of the AUV crosses over itself, it is possible to reduce this propagation of image alignment errors within the mosaic. A Kalman filter with augmented state is proposed to optimally estimate both the visual map and the vehicle position.

Ultra-high critical current densities of superconducting YBa2_2Cu3_3O7−δ_{7-\delta} thin films in the overdoped state

Doping is one of the most relevant paths to tune the functionality of cuprates, it determines carrier density and the overall physical properties of these impressive superconducting materials. We present an oxygen doping study of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO) thin films from underdoped to overdoped state, correlating the measured charge carrier density, $n_\textrm{H}$, the hole doping, $p$, and the critical current density, $J_\textrm{c}$. Our results show a continuous increase of $J_\textrm{c}$ with charge carrier density, reaching 90 MA/cm$^2$ at 5 K for $p$-doping at the Quantum Critical Point (QCP), linked to an increase of the superconducting condensation energy. The ultra-high $J_\textrm{c}$ achived corresponds to a third of the depairing current, i.e. a value 60 % higher than ever reported in YBCO films. The overdoped regime is characterized by a sudden increase of $n_\textrm{H}$, associated to the reconstruction of the Fermi-surface at the QCP. Overdoping YBCO opens a promising route to extend the current carrying capabilities of REBCO coated conductors for applications