Superconductivity of powder-in-tube Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 wires

TL;DR

This paper reports the first fabrication of Nb-sheathed Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 superconducting wires using the powder-in-tube method, demonstrating high transition temperature and exceptional high-field performance, indicating potential for high-field applications.

Contribution

First successful fabrication of Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 wires with Nb sheath using the PIT method, showing superior superconducting properties compared to existing materials.

Findings

Transition temperature (Tc) is 35.3 K.

Hc2(0) exceeds 140 T.

Weak Jc-field dependence near Tc.

Abstract

Nb-sheathed Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 superconducting wires have been fabricated using the powder-in-tube (PIT) method for the first time and the superconducting properties of the wires have been investigated. The transition temperature (Tc) of the Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 wires is confirmed to be as high as 35.3 K. Most importantly, Sr0.6K0.4Fe2As2 wires exhibit a very weak Jc-field dependence behavior even the temperature is very close to Tc. The upper critical field Hc2(0) value can exceed 140 T, surpassing those of MgB2 and all the low temperature superconductors. Such high Hc2 and superior Jc-field performance make the 122 phase SrKFeAs wire conductors a powerful competitor potentially useful in very high field applications.