What superconductor does Conductus use?
Conductus makes its superconducting components from a material known as YBCO (short for Y1Ba2Cu3O7-d). It was the first superconductor discovered with a critical temperature above 77 K and is the most widely studied and widely developed of the new high-temperature superconductors. Like the other high-temperature superconductors, it has a complex layered chemical structure and only exhibits desirable electrical properties when it is produced with a high degree of crystalline order. YBCO Crystal Structure Conductus uses YBCO because it is our assessment that the current state of the art is that the highest-quality materials and devices can be made from this material as opposed to any other currently-known material.
