Announcements

Please check for current updates
Last update - May 20, 2012

• Additional Applications to the ESAS Superconductivity Summer School May Be Submitted May 4, 2012 (A174)
• Institute of Physics Superconductivity Summer School April 24, 2012 (A173).
• PASREG 2012: 8th International Workshop on Processing and Applications of Superconducting (RE)BCO Large Grain Materials, December 06-08, 2012; Tainan, Taiwan April 12, 2012 (A172)
• SEFIRA, Superconducting Electronics Front-end InfrRAstructure
  Journées SUPRA 2012, days of superconductivity 2012 March 20, 2012 (A171)
• European Summer School on Superconductivity 2012 March 20, 2012 (A170)
• The Book "100 Years of Superconductivity“ Appeared March 5, 2012 (A169)
• Update on BIOMAG 2012 March 5, 2012 (A168)
• 8th International Symposium on Intrinsic Josephson Effects and Plasma Oscillations in High-Tc Superconductors (PLASMA 2012) Februray 14, 2012 (A167)
• 18th BioMag Conference Call for Abstracts January 30, 2012 (A166)
• ASC 2012 Call for Abstracts and Papers January 30, 2012 (A165)
• Third German National Workshop ZIEHL III January 12, 2012 (A164)
• Conference on Materials & Mechanisms of Superconductivity November 30, 2011 (A163)
• CSM 2012 Final Abstract Deadline November 28, 2012 (A162)
• IOP Superconductivity Summer School 2012 November 28, 2011 (A161)
• III International Workshop on HTS Numerical Modelling November 26, 2011 (A160)
• International Workshop on Coated Conductors for Applications to Be Held in 2012 (November 25, 2011 (A159)
• The ZIEHL III Workshop to be held in Bonn November 16, 2011 (A158)
• The 18th BioMag Conference to Be Held in Paris, France: Call for Symposia
  November 14, 2011 (A157)
• Reports on Progress in Physics Special Issue on Iron-based Superconductors November 10, 2011 (A156)
• IEEE CSC Fellowship Award November 7, 2011 (A155)
• Workshop on Superconducting Wind Turbine Generators September 29, 2011 (A154)
• Abstracts of the Seventh International Conference on Vortex Matter in Nanostructured Superconductors September 12, 2011 (A153)
• International Conference of Superconductivity and Magnetism: Abstract Submission September 12, 2011 (A152)
• Superconductivity Centennial Conference Update September 11, 2011 (A151)
• ESAS Prizes for Young Researchers August 24, 2011 (A150)
• E-MRS Fall Meeting Features Two Superconductor Symposia August 17, 2011 (A149)
• The LTD-14 Program Is Accessible Online June 24, 2011 (A148)
• The ICSM 2012 – First Announcement June 20, 2011 (A147)
• ESNF to Pre-publish selected Papers Presented at CEC-ICMC 2011 May 26, 2011 (A146)
• Seventh Fuxonics RSFQ Design Workshop May 19, 2011 (A145)
• Open PhD Scholarship at DLR, Berlin May 13, 2011 (A144)
• Workshop on Cryoelectronic Devices, Kryo 2011 May 13, 2011, updated June 1, 2011 (A143)
• Selection of Papers from “Reports on Progress in Physics” 2000-2010 April 30, 2011 (A142)
• SuST Free Access Paper Highlights of 2010 April 21, 2011 (A141)
• Physics World Superconductivity Centennial Special Issue April 13, 2011 (A140)
• Joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society April 11, 2011 (A139)
• Sixth Braunschweig Superconductivity Seminar March 26, 2011 (A138)
• European Summer School 2011 March 25, 2011 (A137)
• Low-temperature Detectors Workshop to Be Held at Heidelberg (A136)
• HTS⁴Fusion Conductor Workshop March 16, 20011 (A135)
• IOP to Publish Proceedings of the Centennial Conference March 16, 2011 (A134)
• European Roadmap on Superconductive Electronics February 22, 2011 (A133)
• Applied Superconductivity Forum - Alert! February 22, 2011 (A132)
• Postdoctoral Position in France February 19, 2011 (A131)
• IOP Announces Free Access to 100 Superconductivity papers January 27, 2010 (A130)
• International Conference on Quantum Metrology to be Held in Poland January 20, 2011 (A129)
• 6th Braunschweig Superconductivity Seminar January 12, 2011 (A128)
• The 2nd International Workshop on Numerical Modelling of High-temperature Superconductors. January 07, 2011 (A127)
• Superconductivity Centennial Conference December 6, 2010 (A126)
• Conference on Fundamental Problems of High Temperature Superconductivity to Be Held in Russia November 10, 2010 (A125)
• Prepublication of ASC Papers in ESNF August 9, 2010 (A124)
• Philippe Masson Is Our New Co-editor August 3, 2010 (A123)
• Open Doctoral Study Positions in Superconducting Detectors of Synchrotron Radiation July 23, 2010 (A122)
• Open Tenure-Track Position in Cryogenic Cooling Technology June 24, 2010 (A121)
• Final Program of ESAS Summer School on Materials and Applications on Superconductivity June 8, 2010  (A120)
• German Cryoelectronic Workshop May 11, 2010 (A119)
• IEEE ENERGYCON 2010 Paper Submission Deadline Extended April 27, 2010 (A118)
• 2nd Savoie Workshop - Reminder April 21, 2010 (A117)
• PASREG-2010 Workshop Preceding the 2010 ASC April 12, 2010 (A116)
• ESAS Summer School on Materials and Applications on Superconductivity March 24, 2010 (A115)
• U.S. Particle Accelerator School Offers Superconductivity-related Courses March 24, 2010 (A114)
• 5th Braunschweig Superconductivity Seminar March 23, 2010 (A113)
• CIMTEC 2010 to Include the 6th International Conference “Science and Engineering of Novel Superconductors” February 23, 2010 (A112)
• Savoie Superconducting Electronics Workshop February 12, 2010 (A111)
• Twente Cooler Workshop February 12, 2010 (A110)
• Karlsruhe Detector Workshop  February 12, 2010 (A109)
• Underground Science and Technology Conference February 5, 2010 (A108)
• ASC 2010 Announces Call for Papers January 28, 2010 (A107)
• 2010 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements January 15, 2010 (A106)
• Vitaly Vysotsky Appointed Scientific Director at the Russian R&D Cable Institute
  January 25, 2010 (A105)
• EUROSQIP Final Workshop January 25, 2010 (A104)
• Workshop “Superconductivity in Reduced Dimensions” January 22, 2010 (A102)
• Biomag 2010 to Be Held in Dubrovnik, Croatia December 22, 2009 (A102)
• SuST Focus Issue on Coated Conductors and their Applications December 15, 2009 (A100)
• ENERGYCON 2010 December 7, 2009 (A99)
• Special Issue of Selected ISEC 2009 Papers Announced by SuST October 20, 2009 (A98)
• ZIEHL II to Be Held in Bonn October 20, 2009 (A97)
• BIOMAG 2010 Call for Abstracts and Proposals to Organize Symposia and Workshops September 10, 2009 (A96)
• Science and Engineering of Novel Superconductors September 10, 2009 (A94)
• Reports on Progress in Physics: 2008 Highlights February 3, 2009 (A71)
• Lectures on Superconductivity Available Online March 29, 2008 (A36)
• Highlights of New Journal of Physics March 3, 2008 (A32)
• New EU Seventh Framework “S-PULSE” December 21, 2007 (A24)
• Russian Bulletin on Superconductors in Electric Power Industry May 28. 2007 (A7)
• Reorganization of Some French Laboratories Active in Superconductivity April 30, 2007 (A4)
• New Profile of IPTH-Jena April 18, 2007 (A3)
• European Superconductivity News Forum– Results of the Poll March 17, 2007 (A1)

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Additional Applications to the ESAS Superconductivity Summer School May Be Submitted

May 4, 2012 (A174).  While the deadline for applications to the ESAS Superconductivity Summer School expired on April 25th, we received today the information that additional applications may be submitted promptly as there still are a few free places.

This school can be of interest to students (Master, PhD), post-docs, engineers and scientists.
For more information, see http://www.affccs.org/esas/EcoleEsas2012/index.html.  The preliminary program is accessible here.  To apply, please send the following documents to esas.school2012@grenoble.cnrs.fr: (Please note: vacancies in the ESAS Superconductivity Summer School are now filled.)

- a short CV,
- a short description of your work,
- a letter of recommendation.

Institute of Physics Superconductivity Summer School

April 24, 2012 (A173).  While the application deadline of the ESAS Superconductivity Summer School passed, interested applicants can still register for the Institute of Physics (IOP, UK) Summer School.  It is being organized by the IOP Superconductivity Group as a three-day event beginning on July 9th (Monday) morning and closing in the late afternoon of July 11th (Wednesday), 2012.  It will be held at the Wolfson College, Oxford, UK, where the last IOP Superconductivity Summer School (2010) was also held.  The program of invited lectures is already posted at: https://www.eventsforce.net/iop/frontend/reg/tOtherPage.csp?pageID=85597&ef_sel_menu=2318&eventID=222&eventID=222

It covers five topical areas listed below:

• Fundamentals of superconductivity
• Materials
• Applications
• Modelling
• Measurements.

Confirmed speakers include David Larbalestier, Archie Campbell, Harry Jones and Martin Wilson.  Registration details and all other information can be also found at the website indicated above.  The early registration deadlines are: June 1st, (early) and July 4th, 2012 (regular).  Registration (including meals) is only GBP 245 for non-IOP member students (230 for members) and en-suite accommodation is 82 GBP per night at St Anns College, Oxford.

One very positive experience from the last IOP superconductivity school was that the event was well attended by junior researchers in both academia and industry which provided an excellent opportunity for networking between early career staff in these two domains of superconductivity research.

PASREG 2012: 8th International Workshop on Processing and Applications of Superconducting (RE)BCO Large Grain Materials, December 06-08, 2012; Tainan, Taiwan

April 12, 2012 (A172) We are pleased to announce that the 8th International Workshop on Processing and Applications of Superconducting (RE)BCO Large Grain Materials (PASREG 2012) will be held at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan from December 6th to 8th, 2012, following the International Symposium on Superconductivity (ISS2012) being held from December 3rd to 5th in Tokyo, Japan. National Cheng Kung University is located in Tainan, a well-known historical city in southwestern Taiwan that has a rich cultural heritage.

The PASREG 2012 Workshop will cover important processing and characterization aspects of bulk High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) and other bulk materials (including MgB2 and pnictides). The Workshop will also highlight materials processing, innovative applications utilizing bulk HTS materials, and novel developments in the field. PASREG 2012 is the eighth in a series of international workshops on the processing and applications of large grain (RE)BCO superconducting materials, previously held in Cambridge, UK. (1997), Morioka, Japan (1999), Seattle, USA (2001), Jena, Germany (2003), Tokyo, Japan (2005), Cambridge, UK(2007), and Washington D.C., USA (2010).

We look forward to seeing you in Tainan, Taiwan. For further information, please visit the workshop website: http://pasreg2012.org

The PASREG 2012 Organizing Committee -
Chair:
      In-Gann Chen (National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan)
Co-Chairs:
      David Cardwell (University of Cambridge, UK)
      Herbert C. Freyhardt (TcSUH/University of Houston)
      Murakami (Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan)

SEFIRA, Superconducting Electronics Front-end InfrRAstructure
Journées SUPRA 2012, days of superconductivity 2012

March 20, 2012 (A171). From 02 – 04 April, 2012 the network SEFIRA will organize the ‘Journées SUPRA 2012’, the days of superconductivity 2012 at Cargèse/Corse with two invited talks from Benjamin Huard and Laura Gozzelino on the treatment of quantum information and prospects of MgB₂, respectively.

All details can be found in the French announcement SEFIRA JOURNEES SUPRA 2012 or directly in the internet at http://www.sefira.org

European Summer School on Superconductivity 2012

March 20, 2012 (A170). The 2012 ESAS Summer School on Superconductivity will be held at Lans en Vercors, France from June 10 - 15, 2012. Information can be found under: http://esasschool2012.grenoble.cnrs.fr/

The application for participation is open: Up to 30 participants will be chosen based on their application, which should include a short CV, an abstract of the participant’s poster contribution, a summary of the research work/plan and a letter of recommendation from his/her supervisor.

Applications should be sent to esas.school2012@grenoble.cnrs.fr before April 22, 2012. Response will be given before April 30, 2012. It must be specified if the applicant needs a visa. Each participant should present a poster.

The Book "100 Years of Superconductivity“ Appeared

March 5, 2012 (A169).  The delayed book "100 Years of Superconductivity“, to be distributed to attendees of the Superconductivity Centennial Conference in The Hague (September 18 to 23, 2011), see HE64, has been finally printed and distributed.  It should be also available in bookstores and via Internet stores for a price of £ 63.99 (hardback copy).  Unfortunately, it contains mistakes, which originated with the Publisher (CRC).   The book Editors, Profs. Horst Rogalla and Peter Kes, made every effort to prevent these mistakes from appearing in print, but without success.  According to a CRC leaflet we found in the book, the errata can be found online: http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439849460.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to find these errata in that publicity webpage.

Update on BIOMAG 2012

March 5, 2012 (A168).  As announced earlier (see A166), the 18th International Conference on Biomagnetism will be held in Paris, France, from Sunday, August 26th through Thursday, August 30th, 2012.  The call for abstracts was issued on January 26th and the submission deadline is March 15th, 2012.  We now received the announcement that the lists of symposia and satellite events are already available on the websites:
http://www.biomag2012.org/content/conference-program, and
http://www.biomag2012.org/content/satellite-meetings. 

Furthermore, a call for proposals to host the 2016 BIOMAG was recently issued and is accessible here.

8th International Symposium on Intrinsic Josephson Effects and Plasma Oscillations in High-Tc Superconductors (PLASMA 2012)

Februray 14, 2012 (A167).  The 8th International Symposium on Intrinsic Josephson Effects and Plasma Oscillations in High-Tc Superconductors (PLASMA 2012) will be held at Cesme, Izmir, Turkey, from June 10 to 13, 2012. The extended abstract submission deadline is February 25, 2012.

The conference will focus on various topics related to Josephson junctions and novel phenomena in Josephson junction systems. The topics are: Terahertz oscillations and their applications, Macroscopic quantum phenomena and qubit applications, Josephson vortex dynamics and related topics, exotic and unconventional superconductors and their properties, others (including iron-based superconductors). The conference is intended to provide an opportunity to get together, to exchange information and ideas, to promote stimulating discussions and collaborations among participants, and also to foster young scientists.

A special session will be held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Josephson effect. Submitting a paper to it and/or suggesting speakers for this session is welcome.

The venue will be a famous holiday destination of Aegean Sea, Cesme, Turkey. Cesme is 90 km away from Izmir connected with a toll express way.  Izmir is the third largest city of Turkey, connected with many countries via non-stop flights.

You could find details at Plasma 2012 web site, http://plasma2012.iyte.edu.tr; contact the organizers at plasma2012@iyte.edu.tr

18th BioMag Conference Call for Abstracts

January 30, 2012 (A166).  The 18th International Conference on Biomagnetism will be held in Paris, France, from Sunday, August 26th through Thursday, August 30th, 2012.  The call for abstracts was issued on January 26th and the submission deadline is March 15th, 2012.
The meeting will be held in the beautiful 18th century Hotel de la Rochefoucauld d'Estissac, now a state-of-the-art meeting center located a few hundred meters away from the Eiffel tower, the Musée d'Orsay and the Saint Germain des Prés area.

The scientific program includes, but is not limited to, technological, methodological, clinical and fundamental research in biomagnetism. This year, the organizers intend to highlight the quickly growing field of human brain dynamics, taking the MEG perspective but also taking advantage of the multiple methods (EEG, fMRI) and recording levels (intracranial EEG, LFP, unit activity) now available. These issues will be addressed in five keynote lectures, twenty symposia and several poster sessions.

Abstracts should be submitted (by March 15th, 2012) through the BioMag website: http://www.biomag2012.org/submission/.  The Conference Registration is now open on the website http://www.biomag2012.org/.

ASC 2012 Call for Abstracts and Papers

January 30, 2012 (A165).  The Applied Superconductivity Conference (ASC 2012) announced its Call for Abstracts and Papers.  The deadline for abstract submission is March 9, 2012.  To access the Call for Abstracts & Papers and the Abstract Submission information, please visit the ASC 2012 website at: http://www.ascinc.org/conference-program/.

Permanently sited in the United States of America, it is the largest and most established (since 1972) international meeting in Applied Superconductivity with attendance from overseas usually exceeding 50%.  The ASC 2012 will take place October 7 - 12, 2012 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon, USA.

For further information and future updates, please visit the ASC 2012 website at http://www.ascinc.org

Third German National Workshop ZIEHL III

January 12, 2012 (A164).  The third biannual German national Workshop ZIEHL III on high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) in energy applications will be again held in Bonn, Germany, this time on March 6th and 7th, 2012.  The flyer containing the Workshop’s preliminary program (session titles in German) and registration information is available here.  Online information is available at http://www.ivsupra.de/ziehl.html, also only in German.   However, in the past, actual presentations were made either in German or in English.  Indeed, in spite of its national character, past Workshops were also attended by foreign participants.  Indeed, ZIEHL is a prime vantage point for watching the progress in the dialogue between German and European energy industries and the German applied superconductivity community.

Beginning this year, this biannual Workshop will alternate with the “Braunschweig Seminar” dedicated to the same purpose.  Information on some past ZIEHL and Braunschweig meetings can be found in ESNF Event Highlights.

ZIEHL III is organized with the support of the German Federal Ministry of Economy.  Its representative, Dr. Knut Kübler, issued the following welcome statement (our free translation wit explanatory additions in brackets):

“The energy strategy of the Federal Government opened a new chapter in the German energy history.  Germany proceeds on the path towards the epoch of renewable energies and will become one of the most energy efficient world economies.  The energy change¹ opens simultaneously the chance for Germany to become a leader in the development of (new) energy technologies thus creating possibilities of economic growth and new permanent jobs.
HTS is a key technology as it enables economical use of regenerative energy sources such as wind and water, and also the extremely efficient and ecologically acceptable optimization and expansion of the electric grid.  In addition, HTS permits one to optimize the energy efficiency of a multitude of industrial processes.

The Federal Ministry for Economy (BMWi) sees in its support of superconductive technology a contribution to prospective safeguarding of German position in (world) economy.  In this spirit I welcome the third ZIEHL meeting of 2012, where the contributors will report on the already attained successes and new perspectives of the HTS technology in Germany.”

¹Planned discontinuation of nuclear energy in Germany.

 Conference on Materials & Mechanisms of Superconductivity

November 30, 2011 (A163).   The Materials & Mechanisms of Superconductivity Conference, M2S 2012, will be held at the Omni Shoreham hotel in Washington from Sunday, July 29 through Friday, August 3, 2012.  The M2S Conference originated as spontaneous response to the discovery of high-Tc superconductivity and is the successor of the former Rochester Conference.  We attract the attention of our readers to the M2S Call for Abstracts.  The firm deadline for submission is February 8th, 2012.  This call for abstracts includes the abstract categories and all other information currently available.

ICSM 2012 Final Abstract Deadline

November 28, 2012 (A162).  The final and ultimate abstract deadline for ICSM 2012
(see A152) was extended by the Organizers and is now December 7, 2012.  To submit an abstract, please visit http://www.icsm2012.org/, register and use the abstract template.

IOP Superconductivity Summer School 2012

November 28, 2011 (A161). The Institute of Physics (IOP. UK) Superconductivity Group organizes a Superconductivity Summer School 2012 to be held at the Wolfson College, University of Oxford, from July 9 to 11, 2012.  The Chairs of this event are Dr Ziad Melhem of Oxford Instruments and Professor Harry Jones, University of Oxford.

This three day summer school on Superconductivity will deliver a brief introduction to superconducting materials and applications covering Fundamentals of superconductivity, Materials, Applications, Modeling, and Measurements.  The program may include a visit to Oxford Instruments. 

Early registration deadline will expire on June 1, 2012.  The final deadline will be July 4, 2012.  More information will be available soon at the School website.

III International Workshop on HTS Numerical Modelling

November 26, 2011 (A160).  The III International Workshop on Numerical Modelling of High-temperature Superconductors (50 Years of Critical State) will be held in Barcelona on April 10 to 13, 2012.

The call for papers is open.  Early registration at reduced fee ends January 21, 2012.  All information on submissions, registration, hotel, venue, etc., can be found at the Workshop Website: http://www.icmab.es/htsmodelling2012/#home.

The ZIEHL III Workshop to be held in Bonn

November 16, 2011 (A158).  The German National Workshop ZIEHL will be held for the third time in Bonn, Germany, on 6th and 7th of March 2012.  Its purpose will be to present and assess the status and readiness of superconductivity industry in the area of application of high-Tc superconductors in large-scale power/energy applications, and take stock of the progress accomplished since ZIEHL II.  Superconducting grid components are expected to enhance the energy efficiency of electrical grid and power systems and thus contribute to environmentally advantageous solutions. 

Similarly as the 1st and 2nd ZIEHL, the announced Workshop will be oriented principally at an audience not involved in applied superconductivity: the energy industry, engineers active in energy technology, potential future investors, and also decision makers in politics, economy, industry and environmental protection.  The meeting, again under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Economy, will be held mostly in German, but, as in the case of earlier ZIEHL Workshops, foreign participants are welcome.

The flyer of the Workshop can be viewed here.  It provides the overall program, plus information on lodging and registration fees.  The actual  registration occurs on the www.ivsupra.de. website.

The 18th BioMag Conference to Be Held in Paris, France: Call for Symposia

November 14, 2011 (A157)  The 18th International Conference on Biomagnetism (BioMag 2012) will be held in Paris, France, from Sunday, August 26th through Thursday, August 30th, 2012.  The venue will be the beautiful 18th century Hotel de la Rochefoucauld d'Estissac, now a state-of-the-art meeting center located only a few hundred meters away from the Eiffel tower, the Musée d'Orsay and the Saint Germain des Prés quarter of Paris.

The scientific program is expected to include, but not be limited to, technological, methodological, clinical and fundamental research in biomagnetism.  The intended emphasis will be on the quickly growing field of human brain dynamics; from the MEG perspective but also taking advantage of the multiple methods (EEG, fMRI) and recording levels (intracranial EEG, LFP, unit activity) now available.

The organizers are now calling for the submission of proposals for up to 20 symposia. A symposium should last 2 hours and include 3-4 speakers. Submissions will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. Please submit your proposal through the BioMag 2012 website http://www.biomag2012.org/ before November 22nd, 2011. The Scientific Committee may suggest to merge symposia addressing similar topics.

Reports on Progress in Physics Special Issue on Iron-based Superconductors

November 10, 2011 (A156)  To celebrate the centennial of superconductivity, Reports on Progress in Physics (ROPP, IOP) published a special issue of invited-only review articles on the topic of Iron-based Superconductors.  Edited by George Crabtree, Laura Greene and Peter Johnson, all contributions will be free to read until the end of 2011. Further articles will appear before the end of the year, so make sure you bookmark the page. View the full collection and don’t miss this opportunity.  Note that ROPP enjoys currently an extremely high impact factor of 13.857.  Also the ROPP collection of superconductivity-themed review articles published over the last 10 years (see A142) is still accessible free of charge.

IEEE CSC Fellowship Award

November 7, 2011 (A155).  We attract the attention of our potentially qualifying readers to the IEEE CSC Fellowship Award administered by the IEEE CSC. It is also posted on  the IEEE CSC website homepage.

Workshop on Superconducting Wind Turbine Generators

September 29, 2011 (A154).  A Workshop on superconducting generators for wind turbines will be held in Rome, Italy, on October 24, 2011.  The Italian Association, for Marine Renewable Energies in the Mediterranean and European Seas (OWEMES), is responsible for the organization of this Workshop.  All the information can be found in the flyer accessible at http://www.gse.it/media/ConvegniEventi/Documents/SowitBrochure2011.pdf

Abstracts of the Seventh International Conference on Vortex Matter in Nanostructured Superconductors

September 12, 2011 (A153).  The Seveth International Conference on Vortex Matter in Nanostructured Superconductors, a satellite of EUCAS 2011, is currently (September 10 to 17th, 2011) held on the Rhodes Island, Greece.  Unfortunately, we failed to announce that Conference in time. However, we are now able to provide access to the Abstract Book of this meeting.  It might be of immediate interest to those readers who don’t attend the Conference.

International Conference of Superconductivity and Magnetism: Abstract Submission

September 12, 2011 (A152).  The Chair of the International Conference on Superconductivity and Magnetism (ICSM 2012) announced last week that the abstract submission site has been activated. All invited speakers and contributing participants can upload their abstracts at the ICSM 2012 website (http://www.icsm2012.org/conference/ ).  Abstract submission can only be made electronically via that web-site while using the ICSM template.  Our information on the ICSM 2012 first announcement is A147.

Note that ICSM 2012 will be held at Artemis Marin Princess Hotel in Kumburgaz-Istanbul between 29 April- 4 May 2012, (for details: www.icsm2012.org ). All contributed abstracts received will be reviewed on the basis of scientific merit, novelty and practical application. Full-text papers will be subject to peer review before accepted for publication in a special issue of "Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism".

Superconductivity Centennial Conference Update

September 11, 2011 (A151).  The Superconductivity Centennial Conference (SCC) to be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, will start in a week from today, on September 18th, 2011.  The technical program is now available on the Conference website; the program webpage is: www.eucas2011.org/Program.php.  Latest updates are available at  www.eucas2011.org/News.php.

Contrary to the earlier announcement (see A134), the Conference papers will be published not by IOP, but by Elsevier in the following form:

• All Plenary Lectures and a selection of the Oral Presentations will be published in a special issue of Physica C. These contributions will be subject to Physica C peer review and publication standards. The authors will be contacted personally by the guest editors Horst Rogalla and Peter Kes with directions about the preparation and on-line submission of their papers via Elsevier's Editorial System (EES) at http://ees.elsevier.com/physc. Manuscripts can be submitted starting 1 August 2011; the submission deadline is November 30th, 2011. The length of the articles is about 10 printed pages.
• All other contributed papers of both oral and poster presentations will be published in electronic form after review in a volume of Physics Procedia. Submission should be done electronically in order to facilitate the editorial and reviewing process. For each presented contribution a manuscript of 6 printed pages (maximum) may be submitted to the proceedings. The papers should describe original work of the author(s) which has not been previously published. Submission of manuscripts will be possible till September 24th, 2011.

Please note that the SCC Chairs consented to the prepublication of invited (only) manuscripts in ESNF and secured the permission of Elsevier.   Manuscripts submitted to ESNF by the deadline of November 30th (the same deadline as for Physica C), will be subjected to a prompt editorial review.  Those accepted will be pre-published as electronic preprints in the January 2012 Issue of ESNF.  We invite authors of all invited papers to use this opportunity. 

Interested invited authors should submit online to our usual submissions address: superconductivityforum@ieee.org.

ESAS Prizes for Young Researchers

August 24, 2011 (A150). The European Society for Applied Superconductivity (ESAS, www.esas.org) awards biannually three prizes to researchers under the age of 30 - for outstanding work presented in person by poster or oral during the EUCAS Conference (in 2011 the Superconductivity Centennial Conference). One prize is awarded in each of the three subject areas EUCAS: electronics, large-scale applications and materials.

The main criteria for the award of these prizes are the originality of the work and the
general quality of the poster or oral presentation. Each prize-winner receives
a printed certificate and a monetary award. As the jury of the prize is not able to scrutinize all the presentations during the Conference, those researchers who believe to qualify for the award should step forward and submit their candidacy.

1. Each interested candidate is required to submit via e-mail the following material for the Awards Committee:
   A short CV (1 page).
2. A summary of the work with a general statement on capabilities and
   accomplishments in the field (half a page)
3. A list of publications.

At EUCAS, all candidates will be required to present their poster or oral in person.

The deadline for ESAS prize candidacy submissions (items 1 to 3 above) is
September 9, 2011. Please send the file(s) to infos.esas@listes.grenoble.cnrs.fr.
In the e-mail subject please indicate: “ESAS Prize."

E-MRS Fall Meeting Features Two Superconductor Symposia

August 17, 2011 (A149).  This year European MRS (E-MRS) Fall Meeting will be held in Warsaw, Poland, from September 19 to 23, 2011, immediately after the Superconductivity Centennial Conference (see A126).  Superconductors are the topics of the following two of the 13 parallel Symposia:

D.   Electronic and magnetic structure of ferropnictide high-Tc superconductors and related compounds  and

M.  Recent progress in new superconductors and related multifunctional materials.
The registration deadline for lower fees expired already.  The full rate registration is now EUR 480, student rate is EUR 330.  The venue of E-MRS will be the Warsaw University of Technology.  All the detailed information is available at the E-MRS website.

The LTD-14 Program Is Accessible Online

June 24, 2011 (A148).  We announced earlier (see A136) that the 14th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD-14) will be held at the Kirchhoff-Institute for Physics of the Heidelberg University during the period of August 1 to 5, 2011, with a reception and early sign-in on July 31, 2011.  All the information is available at the LTD-14 website. (http://ltd-14.uni-hd.de/)

At this point we like to announce that the complete online program of the Workshop, including abstracts, is available online, but can be accessed only after logging in.  The program looks rather impressive to us; we would like to encourage attendance by all potentially interested researchers.

The ICSM 2012 – First Announcement

ESNF to Pre-publish selected Papers Presented at CEC-ICMC 2011

May 26, 2011 (A146).  Authors of invited papers to be presented at the CEC-ICMC 2011 conference are invited to submit their manuscripts for possible prepublication in ESNF as electronic preprints.  Papers which directly address R&D in superconducting materials, large scale applications of superconductivity and related technologies, such as cryocooling, are eligible.  This invitation is supported by the CEC-ICMC organizers with a permission of AIP.  The American Institute of Physics is the Publisher of AIP Conference Proceedings (AIPCP), where both the “Advances in Cryogenic Engineering” and the “Advances in Cryogenic Engineering (Materials)” will eventually appear.  Prepublication in ESNF offers the interested authors a broad and prompt dissemination of their paper, much ahead of the eventual publication of the peer-reviewed AIPCP final version.  Selected preprints should appear in the July and October 2011 Issues of ESNF.  Individual invitations were issued to invited authors.

Contributing CEC-ICMC authors have the opportunity to compete for a limited number of prepublication slots.  The topical selection criteria are the same as for invited papers.  All the pertinent information can be found on the conference webpage, see http://cec-icmc.org/article/view/ESNF_pre_publication.  

The CEC-ICMC 2011 will be held in Spokane, Washington, USA, from June 13th to 17th, 2011. 

Seventh Fuxonics RSFQ Design Workshop

May 19, 2011 (A145).  The annual (7th) Fuxonics RSFQ Design Workshop will be held in Ilmenau, Germany, from September 26th to 28th, 2011, immediately after the Centennial Conference in Hague (see A126).  The workshop is offered to those who want to get familiar with the design and simulation of superconductive electronic circuits and the development of emerging applications.  All the information on the registration, lodging, and the general program is available here.

Open PhD Scholarship at DLR, Berlin

May 13, 2011 (A144).  The German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin, Germany, has an open PhD scholarship position to perform research on superconducting nanowire single photon detectors for cryptography.  The DLR announcement is available here.  It provides all the necessary information on how to apply and on requirements to be met by interested candidates.

Workshop on Cryoelectronic Devices, Kryo 2011

May 13, 2011, updated June 23, 2011 (A143).  The annual German national Workshop on Cryoelectronic Devices, will be held this year in Autrans near Grenoble, France, from October 2 to 4, 2011.  This meeting will be organized by IRAM (Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique), which is the reason for the Kryo 2011 venue outside of Germany. 

IRAM is a European collaboration between the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), the German MPG (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) and the Spanish IGN (Instituto Geográfico Nacional), but its activities are global. Partnerships exist with many space research organisations including ESA, NASA and CNES. While developing and running its own observatories, IRAM is often a major contributor to other projects such as ALMA, the world's largest millimeter interferometer project currently under construction. 

The preliminary information on the Workshop is already available on the IRAM webpage, see http://www.iram-institute.org/EN/content-page-224-7-67-224-0-0.html.  Registration opened on June 1 and will end on July 30, 2011.  Note this is also the deadline for abstract submission.  The registration fee of EUR 220.00 covers also accommodation & meals. 
This meeting is traditionally attended also by scientists from neighboring countries, especially Austria, the Netherlands and Switzerland.  At past meetings (the last was held in 2010 in Zeuthen near Berlin, see HE49) the presentations could be made either in German or in English.  At the 2011 Workshop, English will be preferred to facilitate the participation of French colleagues.

Selection of Papers from “Reports on Progress in Physics” 2000-2010

April 30, 2011 (A142).  To celebrate 100 years of superconductivity, the well-known IOP journal Reports on Progress in Physics (ROPP) announced free access to a “Back History Collection” of representative superconductivity-themed papers published between 2000 and 2010.  The free access opportunity will end on December 31, 2011.  To download the papers, please, go to http://iopscience.iop.org/0034-4885/page/Celebrating%20100%20years%20of%20superconductivity

SuST Free Access Paper Highlights of 2010

April 21, 2011 (A141).  The journal Superconductor Science and Technology (SuST, IOP) announced free access to a collection of 26 papers selected by the Editorial Board to exemplify the work published in the journal in 2010.  To access this collection, please click on Highlights of 2010 Collection.

As an extra bonus, the entire issue will be available to download as a free pdf file from the physicsworld.com  site throughout April 2011.  The link to the site is:        
http://physicsworld.com/cws/download/apr2011.

Joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society

April 11, 2011 (A139).  The joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society and the Austrian Physical Society, together with Swiss and Austrian Societies for Astronomy and Astrophysics will be held at EPF Lausanne on June 15 to 17, 2011.  One of the topical sessions will be devoted to “100 Years (of) Superconductivity”.   Also, one of the plenary talks under the same title will be given by Øystein Fischer, University  of Genève, Switzerland.  The website of the meeting is: http://www.sps.ch/en/events/gemeinsame_jahrestagung_2011/ .  An English version is available.  The registration deadline is June 1, 2011.

Workshop “Superconductivity in Reduced Dimensions”

January 22, 2010 (A102).  the International Workshop on “Superconductivity in Reduced Dimensions” will be held in Salzburg, Austria, from May 4th to 8th, 2010.  This workshop is being organized by the Research Networking Programme “Nanoscience and Engineering in Superconductivity” (NES) under the auspices of the European Science Foundation.
Preliminary information on this workshop, including the list of invited speakers, is already available at http://www.univie.ac.at/supraleitung/NES2010/.  As in the case of other NES meetings, the number of participants will be limited, but anyone interested can submit an abstract for evaluation by the organizers.  The scope of the workshop will include:

• Nanostructuring of superconductors and possible applications
• Heterostructures, superlattices, and oxide interfaces
• Surface and grain boundary effects in superconductors
• Nanocomposites, nano-dots, and artificial pinning sites
• S/F hybrid systems
• Vortex structure, dynamics, and related effects
• Superconducting fluctuations
• Josephson junctions and SQUIDs
• Superconducting devices, qubits, radiation emission and detection
• Novel superconducting materials
• Measurement techniques for probing superconductivity at the nanoscale
• Theoretical understanding of finite-size effects in superconductors.

Biomag 2010 to Be Held in Dubrovnik, Croatia

December 22, 2009 (A102).  The 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism will be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, March 28th to April 1st, 2010.  The program of this meeting traditionally includes biomagnetic applications of superconducting sensors especially the magnetoencephalography (MEG), and the magnetocardiography (MCG) or magnetic field imaging (MFI).  All the information on the conference, including the preliminary program, venue, registration, accommodation, etc., can be found at http://www.biomag2010.org/index.php/welcome.html.  

Early registration expires December 23rd 2009.

This year conference will celebrate the 40th anniversary of "medical uses of SQUID".  Below we reproduce part of the welcome note by the conference Chair:

“The interdisciplinary field of biomagnetism includes dynamic and evolving SQUID-based technologies offering advanced real-time methods for noninvasive assessments of magnetic signals from the brain, heart and other organs as well as a range of modeling, mathematical and computational methods for functional source localization approaches. Excellent spatial resolution and unique, millisecond, temporal resolution of biomagnetic techniques allow insights into cortical neurodynamics and neurobiological basis of the human brain and heart functions in health and disease. Biomag2010 will be a great opportunity for an exchange of ideas and presentation of the latest developments in instrumentation, modeling approaches, basic and clinical biomedical studies. We are particularly proud to announce the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first SQUID-based MCG measurements published on April 1, 1970. Since then ''medical uses of SQUID'' were dynamic and growing, including the most recent developments in combination with low field MRI, toward a ''direct neuronal imaging''.

SuST Focus Issue on Coated Conductors and their Applications

December 10, 2009 (A100).  Superconductor Science and Technology (SuST) published today the online version of its Focus Issue on Coated HTS Conductors and their applications (SuST, vol. 23 Number 1, January 2010). As a community service, this issue will be accessible free-of-charge until 31 March 2010 at http://www.iop.org/EJ/toc/0953-2048/23/1 So we immediately attract the attention of our readers to this opportunity. Below we reproduce almost verbatim the preface by the Guest Editors: Herbert C. Freyhardt, Dominic Lee, and Teruo Izumi.

The attractive perspectives offered by coated conductors, the 2nd generation (2G) of HTS conductors, triggered broad and fruitful R&D efforts towards making 2G ready for the marketplace. The anisotropic features of YBCO and its weak-linkbehavior require the processing of almost single-crystalline thin films, flat tapes of coated conductors, by basically two different methods, the RABiTS – rolling assisted bi-axially textured substrates - and IBAD – ion-beam assisted deposition - methods. Reliable processing technologies are now at hand, and critical current carrying capabilities could be raised to almost 10% – 20 % of the limiting depairing current density by optimizing flux pinning through a control and design of the microstructural landscapes. Optimized in-field properties, 2G wires with low ac losses as well as assembled conductors for high current application remain active development areas, and cost reduction is still a major issue. However, coated conductors now commence to penetrate the market, particularly for power and electrical engineering, where savings in energy become essential, but also where the unique features of an HTS material can be utilized.

It’s certainly true that not only general international conferences were devoted to following up the progress in this exciting realm, but also workshops and discussion meetings took up on this topic. Nonetheless, it was felt that a concise and up-to-date issue of Superconductor Science and Technology would be most welcome to summarize and collect the latest developments in processing and characterizing coated conductors, and to draw the attention to the most innovative applications.

The cover page of the Focus Issue is reproduced below.

ENERGYCON 2010

December 7, 2009 (A99).  We reproduce the full text of ENERGYCON 2010 call for papers (Click here).  One of the reasons we publicize that planned event is that superconductivity is not mentioned explicitly in the listing of included topics.  We believe, it will be important to present at this conference all the options and benefits, for example in enhancing the energy efficiency, which could be derived from introducing superconducting components into the power grids of the future.  We thus encourage our readers and their organizations to consider submitting appropriate tutorial proposals and paper contributions describing the status of and outlook for superconducting devices and grid components.

Special Issue of Selected ISEC 2009 Papers Announced by SuST

October 20, 2009 (A98).  The special Issue of selected papers from the 12th International Superconductive Electronics Conference (held in June 2009 at Fukuoka, Japan) has been announced by the journal Superconductor Science & Technology (IOP).  Papers published in this issue represent a cross section of the work in this field including papers on digital/mixed signal processing, RF electronics, SQUIDs and their applications, mixers and detectors, as well as thin film materials, junctions and novel devices.  The issue is free to access online until March 31, 2010: click at http://www.iop.org/EJ/toc/0953-2048/22/11

ZIEHL II to Be Held in Bonn

October 30, 2009 (A97).  The German National Workshop ZIEHL will be held again in Bonn, Germany, on 16th and 17th of March 2010.  Its purpose will be to present and assess the status and readiness of superconductivity industry in the area of application of high-Tc superconductors in large-scale power/energy applications, and take stock of the progress accomplished since ZIEHL I.  Superconducting grid components are expected to enhance the energy efficiency of electrical grid and power systems and contribute to environmentally advantageous solutions. 

Similarly as the 1st ZIEHL, the announced Workshop will be oriented principally at an audience not involved in applied superconductivity: the energy industry, engineers active in energy technology, potential future investors, and hopefully also decision makers in politics, economy, industry and environmental protection.  The meeting, under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Economy, will be held mostly in German, but, as in the case of ZIEHL I, foreign participants are welcome.

We highlighted the 1st ZIEHL of February 2008 (see HE14/H22) and published two introductory talks (see papers RN5 and RN6), which, judging from resonance we received, were rather widely read.  The Workshop program presented in the preliminary announcement of ZIEHL II contains two introductory talks by the same authors: K. Kübler (“Energy Efficiency and New Grid Technologies”) and W. Prusseit (“International Superconductivity Industry – Status and Perspectives”.  Also the basic technology talk (“Superconducting Wires and the Cryotechnology”) will be held again by Dr. Bernhard Holzapfel.  The preliminary announcement of ZIEHL II is available at http://www.ivsupra.de/content/view/90/71/ , the flyer can be viewed here.  The online registration is already open.

BIOMAG 2010 Call for Abstracts and Proposals to Organize Symposia and Workshops

September 10, 2009 (A96).  The call is open for proposals to organize Symposia and Workshops at the BIOMAG 2010 Conference.  The proposal submission deadline is September 20, 2009.  The conference will be held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, March 28 to April 1, 2010.  This call is posted at: http://www.biomag2010.org/index.php/program/28-call-for-biomag2010-symposia-and-workshops.html.

Also open is the call for abstracts.  The deadline is October 15th, 2009.  The abstract submission instructions are available at: http://www.biomag2010.org/index.php/static/39-abstract-submission-instructions-.html.

Finally, the information on the BIOMAG2010 fellowships and awards is also posted at the conference website, see http://www.biomag2010.org/index.php/young-scientist-awards.html .  The following fellowships and prizes will be awarded during BIOMAG2010:

1. Fellowships for doctoral students
2. Young Investigator Awards (YIA)
3. Sam Williamson Prize (SWP)
4. James Zimmerman Prize (JZP)
5. Connectivity Challenge Award (CCA).

Science and Engineering of Novel Superconductors

September 10, 2009 (A94).  The 6th International Conference “Science and Engineering of Novel Superconductors will be held in Montecatini Terme, Italy from June 13 to 18, 2010.  This meeting is being organized under the auspices of the 12th International Ceramic Congress to be held at the same location on June 6th to 11th, 2010.  The deadline for abstracts is short: October 15th, 2009.  The call for papers can be found here.  Preregistration is open now and those preregistered will obtain the provisional program by March 15, 2010.
Topics of the planned sessions include:

FK-1 Materials, structure, physical chemistry and general properties

• Oxides (cuprates, insulating cuprates, cobaltates, ruthenates and other oxides)
• Borides and borocarbides (MgB2 and other borides)
• Carbon-based superconductors (fulleride, nanotubes, organic superconductors, intercaled graphite)
• Heavy-fermions superconductors and quantum-critical materials

FK-2 New superconductors of the pnictides families

• Structural properties (XRD, neutron scattering, electron diffraction, EXAFS, XANES, STM, SEM, TEM)
• Material processing (powder synthesis, single crystal and film growth)
• Order parameters, pseudo-gap, tunnelling, point-contact Andreev-reflection and related experiments
• Phase competitions, quantum critical points and other mechanisms for superconductivity
• Multiband character and related effects
• Superconducting fluctuations and related effects

FK-3 Properties of superconductors (of any type)

• Spectroscopic techniques (optical spectroscopy, IR, Microwave, Raman, NMR, ESR, µSR,inelastic neutron scattering, Mossabuer, AFM, XAS, acoustic spectroscopy)
• Photoemission and ARPES
• SQUID and tunneling spectroscopies
• Thermal, magnetic and electrical properties

FK-4 Theory and mechanisms ( for normal and superconducting states)

• Correlation effects, spin liquids and quantum criticality
• Phonons, spin excitations and strong coupling
• Inhomogeneous order parameters
• Stripes, phases separation and granularity effects
• Pressure induced superconductivity
• CDW, SDW and superconductivity competition; coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity
• Unconvential superconductors: experiment and theory

FK-5 Vortex lattice physics

• Vortex dynamics
• Understanding and control of flux pinning
• Electromagnetic characterization of superconductors over wide parameters ranges
• Vortex-defect interactions, defect structures, vortex penetration

FK-6 Synthesis and processing

• Films, multilayer, wires, tapes and coated conductors
• Josephson junction arrays
• Nanostructured superconductors
• Proximity and interface effects, hybrid structures

FK-7 Power applications

• Cables, transformers, motors and generators, current limiters and magnets
• Magnetic energy storage, high field magnets and accelerator technology
• MRI and MEG novel devices
• Prospective devices

FK-8 Low power applications and superconducting electronics

4th Braunschweig Superconductivity Seminar

March 20, 2009 (A83).  The Carolo-Wilhelmina University of Braunschweig and the company PerCoTech AG organize the 4th Braunschweig Superconductivity Seminar to be held on 12th and 13th of May 2009 in Braunschweig, Germany.  The lead theme of this seminar is “Superconductivity: Application and Fabrication – a Dialog”.  This is a national event held essentially in German.  It is co-sponsored be the energy provider E.On, the ”iv Supra” Association, Siemens, and VDE (Association of German Engineers).
The purpose of the seminar is to provide a common discussion platform to potential users and producers of superconducting devices and systems.  The main questions asked are:

• What are the application possibilities for superconductivity technology?
• What requirements the devices and systems must meet to be used?
• What economical and political boundary conditions are essential for the implementation of superconductivity technology?

There is no website for this event.  The program, venue, hotel and organizer information in German, are provided here.  There is no registration fee, but informal prior registration (no form to fill) is required at: al.henning@tu-bs.de, or by fax: +49 (531) 391-8106.

Reports on Progress in Physics: 2008 Highlights

February 3, 2009 (A71).  The IOP journal Reports on Progress in Physics made accessible their annual selection of 2008 article highlights.  These articles (full text) are now accessible and can be downloaded free-of-charge until the end of 2009.  We recommend the whole excellent selection to interested readers.  To read the highlights, click on: http://herald.iop.org/reportsonphysicsinprogresshighlights2008/m191/zea/132364/link/2291.
This selection of 10 papers includes two articles discussing the high-T_c problem.  Click here to read their abbreviated abstracts.

Lectures on Superconductivity Available Online

March 29, 2008 (A36).  A project to produce video lectures on superconductivity, featuring contributions from leading world experts in academia and industry, was announced in 2002 by the European Network for Superconductivity, SCENET-2.  This project was led by Dr. Bartek Glowacki, University of Cambridge, England, and received financial support from SCENET-2, Pi-Shift and the European Science Foundation.

The production and editing process have been finally completed, and the “Lectures on Superconductivity” are now available free-of-charge online at: http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/ascg/lectures .  Some technical details on accessibility and formats can found here.

Although the films are available online, this is an on-going project to educate students and to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of superconductivity in 2008.  Dr. Glowacki and his colleagues aim to gradually add supporting text, questions and links to further reading and related videos, for each film.  It is also hoped that present films can eventually be updated, and coverage of some subjects increased, as the opportunity arises.

Contributions of supporting material from the superconductivity community are now being sought (see details here).  Please send your comments and contributions by e-mail to los@msm.cam.ac.uk .

10th Anniversary Highlights of New Journal of Physics

March 3, 2008 (A32).  This year will mark the 10th anniversary of the free-to-read, online journal, New Journal of Physics (NJP) (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society).  To celebrate this milestone, the NJP Editorial Board and publishing staff have compiled a short list of some of their article highlights from right across physics that have been published in the journal since 1998.  To accompany the selection, they put together an exclusive '10th Anniversary Highlights' collection of non-specialist summaries written by the original authors themselves. The full list of selected articles, together with the collection of summaries and a series of interviews with some of the featured authors, can be read at http://herald.iop.org/NJP_10years/m274/crk/132364/link/1351.   Superconductivity-related articles of this selection are:

• Dagotto, E.: “Open questions in CMR manganites, relevance of clustered states and analogies with other compounds including the cuprates
  Frigeri, P. A., Agterberg D. F. and Sigrist,M.: “Spin susceptibility in superconductors without inversion symmetry
• Sekitani, T.; Matsuda, Y. H. and Miura, N.: “Measurement of the upper critical field of optimally-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ in megagauss magnetic fields”.

Comments on the highlights, the summary collection and on the NJP in general should be directed to Dr. Tim Smith, Publisher, New Journal of Physics, E-mail: njp@iop.org , http://www.njp.org, Tel: +44 (0) 117 930 1204,  Fax: +44 (0)117 920 0948.

New EU Seventh Framework “S-PULSE”

December 21, 2007 (A24).  The European 7th Framework Project “S-PULSE” (Shrink-Path of Ultra-Low Power Superconducting Electronics) will start on January 1st 2008 under the leadership (coordination) of the Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT) in Jena, Germany. The project consortium includes 15 partners from universities, research institutes and high-tech companies of Germany, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain and South Africa.

The focus of the work will be to establish a new electronics family based on
quantum effects in superconductors. The Rapid Single Flux Quantum (RSFQ)
electronics provides an ultra-low power consumption of only 1atojoule per logic operation (10000 times less than a modern transistor) and is therefore a promising future alternatively to today’s CMOS electronics.  The RSFQ is capable to operate at clock frequencies above 100 GHz. The further growth of packaging density in conventional integrated CMOS circuits is already limited by their power density generating a massive thermal heating. The RSFQ electronics provides an interesting perspective for several special applications and should facilitate further progress beyond today’s scaling limits.

The first main target of the project is to disseminate the university knowledge of the RSFQ technique to potentially interested users.  Besides facilitating presentations at scientific conferences, the project S-PULSE aims at the education of researchers and engineers.  Industrial partners will be educated and supported in their long term project planning via special workshops and seminars on circuit design, packaging and example applications of RSFQ solutions.

The second main target is to enhance European competitiveness in
superconducting electronics, and to define and coordinate strategic research and
development activities, in a way similar to the semiconductor roadmap ITRS. New approaches to improving packaging density and device miniaturization down to nanostructures will be analyzed in several research studies.

The project should focus the strategic planning in Europe to keep track of the strong progress in this field, especially in Japan and the US.  Further information will become accessible via the new PULSE webpage of IPHT (of course with links from and to FLUXONICS).

May 28. 2007 (A7).  Our readers familiar with Russian language might benefit from reading the Bulletin on “Superconductors in Electric Power Industry” http://perst.isssph.kiae.ru/supercond/  published by a dedicated team at the Moscow’s famous Kurchatov’s Institute (see teams group photo below), with collaboration of co-editors from other institutions active in the field. 

This Bulletin enjoys a rapidly growing readership: from April 27th, 2007, it had nearly 9000 online visitors!  The published material is largely based on foreign information sources, but it represents a very useful and interesting compilation.  It also facilitates direct access to these sources.  Simultaneously, the Bulletin provides excellent insight into the pertinent activities in Russia.

Fig. 1: The team publishing the Russian Bulletin “Superconductors in Electric Power Industry”.  Standing from left to right: V.I. Scherbakov (Editor), O. K. Alekseeva, N. K. Morozova, D. I. Shutova, A. a. Nikonov, I. L. Furletova, V. V. Lobyncev and M. P. Smaev (Editor).  Sitting are, left to right: F. A. Shkliaruk, A. K. Tchernysheva, A. A. Veligshanin.

Reorganization of Some French Laboratories Active in Superconductivity

April 30, 2007 (A4).  In France, superconductivity-related research and development activities are in-part conducted in the so-called “mixed laboratories” involving one or more universities (or an industrial organization), and an organizational unit (section) of the French “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique” (CNRS, the French National Center of Scientific Research).  In these mixed laboratories, the research is conducted jointly, usually on the campus of one of the participating universities.  Examples of such laboratories are listed in the “Guide to European Superconductivity-related Activities”.  Effective January 1, 2007, several of these mixed laboratories have been or are being reorganized.  Consequently, the pertinent entries of that Guide might not be entirely relevant or functional.  Once the reorganization and the construction of corresponding new webpages will be completed, the pertinent CNRS entries to the Guide will be updated accordingly.
            At this juncture, we can already report that in the Grenoble area two major reorganizations took place:

1. CRTBT, Laboratoire de Cristallographie, LLN and LEPES were integrated to form the new Néel Institute: http://neel.cnrs.fr/ , officially inaugurated on the 26th  and 27th of April, 2007.  Of these, the CRTBT and Laboratoire de Cristallographie are still listed in the Guide.  The new website of Néel Institute’s Superconductivity Group is: http://neel.cnrs.fr/spip.php?rubrique65 .
   
2. LEG (listed in the Guide) and LEMD fusioned to form the G2Elab: http://www.leg.ensieg.inpg.fr/G2Elab/ .

At present, the new webpages indicated above are entirely or predominantly in French language.  The official rationale for the reorganization is to increase the visibility of these mixed laboratories. 

New Profile of IPTH-Jena

April 18, 2007 (A3).  At the beginning of 2007, the Institute of Physical High Technology in Jena, Germany, was renamed to become “Institute of Photonic Technology”.  However, it retained the acronym “IPHT”.  The IPHT Department of Quantum Electronics, which since inception was active in superconducting electronics, both analog and digital, assumed a new profile and became the “Department of Quantum Detection”.  The change is related to the continuing shift in funding opportunities (away from superconductivity in the traditional sense) and also the retirement of Prof. Dr. Eckhardt Hoenig, who used to provide leadership in superconductivity- and magnetics-related activities.  The IPHT entry in the “Guide to European Superconductivity-related Activities” was updated accordingly.
Below we reproduce the official announcement of the Department of Quantum Detection:

From Quantum Electronics
to Quantum Detection – a Traditional Department with a New Profile

According to the strategic decision of IPHT Supervisory Board the Institute is going to focus its long-term research and development activities on photonic technologies. In 2006, the Department of Quantum Electronics has developed a concept to make its outstanding technological potential and its scientific experience available to the Institute and to join these new strategic goals. In the framework of this concept, the Department will rearrange its research activities towards the development and application of quantum limited detection systems. In the forthcoming years research and development will concentrate stepwise on quantum radiometry and quantum magnetometers to open up novel and profitable fields of application such as for example Terahertz imaging and spectroscopy, bio-molecule spectrometry, and magnetic field mapping in geophysics and medicine.

The quantum limited detection of radiation is based on the Department’s long standing detector development in radio astronomy. In the next few years, it will be extended to a much wider photonic spectrum ranging from Gamma- and X-rays down to T-rays and radio waves as well. For the extremely sensitive sensors anticipated here, superconducting amplifier technology shall play an important role. Including also optoelectronic sensors, a wide field for research and development is determined, which for example in respect of Terahertz technology is generally considered to have an excellent and promising application potential.

The new field of quantum magnetometry further extends the worldwide accepted experience and the technological leadership of the Department for complex, ultra precise measuring systems for geomagnetic exploration purposes to new areas such as biology and biochemistry. For this purpose, a new group of researchers investigating optically pumped magnetometers will be established. Once these sensors reach a sufficiently high sensitivity they may substitute superconducting quantum interference devices, this way providing a significantly wider application potential for ultra precise magnetometry.

The Department admits its responsibility for the European FLUXONICS Initiative and continues operating the circuit foundry, i.e., continues manufacturing SQUID and large scale integrated superconductive electronic circuits on customer’s request. The development and application of the customary SQUID sensors and the Josephson voltage standard are transferred to Supracon Ltd., the spin-off company of the Department.

European Superconductivity News Forum - Results of the Poll

March 17, 2007 (A1).  In response to the CSC Europe Committee and ESAS poll of February 23rd, 2007, concerning the expected usefulness of the European Superconductivity News Forum project we obtained by March 15th, 2007 the following tally:

Comments:

1. Balances to 100% are blanc votes.
2. Answers “maybe”, “possibly” or “perhaps” were counted as blancs.
3. Respondents, who used the questionnaire posted in Internet, could not differentiate between questions 2 and 3.  An answer “Yes” or “No” was thus applied to both 2 and 3.

Approximately 50% of those asked to participate responded, which represents a statistically valid and highly representative sample.  We extend our sincere thanks to all of you, who participated in the poll.  Clearly, an overwhelming majority sees the need for the News Forum, and very respectable majorities are interested to contribute now or in the future.    Indeed, the Forum can be sustained only if a sufficiently large fraction of the whole European superconductivity community contributes actively.  The overall sample size suggests that this is possible but not necessarily assured, especially that the numbers of those, who wish to contribute (answers to questions 2, 3, 4), are naturally lower than the overall number of respondents.  We’ll thus embark on this Forum project initially on the trial basis.  This European experiment might be discontinued by the end of 2008 if a sufficiently broad interest base and participation will not be attained.  However, we certainly hope that the Forum will meet the expectations of those, who voted “yes” and will prove informative, useful and rewarding.  In this case, the IEEE Council on Superconductivity might attempt to expand this project worldwide.