press release

Fujikura Ltd. (President and CEO: Masahiko Ito) is pleased to announce that Yasuhiro Iijima, a Fellow in the Superconductivity Research Department of the Company's Electronics Application Technology R&D Center, has been awarded the Dr. James Wong Award* by IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Information Engineering), the world's largest academic research organization and technical standardization organization in the fields of electrical and information engineering.

This is a very prestigious award given for outstanding achievements and technical and academic contributions in the field of superconducting materials over a long period of time (usually more than 20 years). Mr. Iijima, who has long been engaged in the development of rare-earth high-temperature superconducting wires, has made outstanding contributions to the invention of the ion beam assisted deposition method, which is indispensable for the orientation control mechanism of superconducting crystals, a major challenge for practical application, and to the practical application of high performance long wires that effectively incorporate this method and artificial pin technology. This process (ion beam assisted deposition) has become an indispensable process for rare-earth high-temperature superconducting wires manufacturing and is currently used by many superconducting wire development manufacturing organizations. And the rare-earth-based high-temperature superconducting wires manufacturing produced by these institutions using this process are already being used in advanced technological equipment, devices, and products, such as ultra-high-field nuclear magnetic resonance equipment.

Going forward, Furukawa Electric will continue to contribute to the advancement of science and technology through its efforts in the development of rare earth high-temperature superconducting technology, and will further contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society through the commercialization and widespread use of these technologies.

*For more information about the Dr. James Wong Award, please see here. (English only)
https://ieeecsc.org/awards/ieee-dr-james-wong-award-continuing-and-significant-contributions-applied-superconductor

IEEE: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. An academic research organization and technical standardization organization in the fields of electrical and information engineering, headquartered in the United States. It is one of the world's largest academic research organizations, with the goal of promoting educational and technological advancement in electrical and electronic engineering, telecommunications, information engineering, and related fields.

High-temperature superconducting wire: Superconductivity is a phenomenon in which electrical resistance becomes zero below a certain temperature. There are two types of superconductivity: low-temperature superconductivity (metallic superconductivity) that uses liquid helium (boiling point: -269°C) for cooling, and high-temperature superconductivity (oxide-based superconductivity) that exhibits superconductivity even at high temperatures without the use of liquid helium. High-temperature superconducting wires can reduce the cost of cooling (energy savings) compared to low-temperature superconducting wires.

Rare earth high-temperature superconducting wire: A superconducting wire in which an oxide superconducting material made of rare earths (such as yttrium), barium, copper, etc. is grown by crystal growth on a tape-shaped metal substrate such as a chromium-nickel-based alloy, with an intermediate layer in between. Its characteristics include little degradation in properties even in a magnetic field, high current density, and small AC loss. It is the material with the highest performance of all high-temperature superconducting wires in practical use.

Ion beam assisted deposition method: In order to improve superconducting properties, it is important to align the crystal orientation, and this is an important technology that makes it possible to align the crystal orientation of the superconducting layer by aligning the crystal orientation of the intermediate layer. This method was independently developed by Fujikura in 1991, the first in the world.

Artificial pinning technology: A technology that dramatically improves the current characteristics in a magnetic field by intentionally introducing a different phase that acts as a pinning point for magnetic flux into the superconducting layer. By effectively combining these technologies, we have put into practical use long wires with high characteristics and practicality.