February 5, 2021 (HP146). Circular Electron Positron Collider, Super Proton Proton Collider (CEPC-SPPC) and Future Circular Collider have been proposed by IHEP-CAS in China and CERN in Europe, for the advanced fundamental physics study in future. The high-energy accelerators for these colliders demand a large quantity of high field magnets with the requirement of significantly lower cost and superconducting materials with the capability of an application in high fields [1].

The iron-based superconductor (IBS), which was discovered in 2008, is a promising candidate for high field applications because of its high upper critical field, moderate critical temperature, strong current carrying capacity, and lower anisotropy. In 2016, the Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEE, CAS) has successfully manufactured the 1st 100-m long 7-filamentary Sr_1−xK_xFe₂As₂ (Sr122) IBS tape using the low-cost powder-in-tube process [2]. In 2019, the IBS solenoid coils were fabricated and tested successfully at 24 T, indicating the possibility of fabricating practical IBS coils; however, the wire length of the IBS solenoid coil was only about half meter [3, 4]. Therefore, the important issue now is to make sure that the long IBS wires can be adapted to the high field magnets, especially accelerator magnets; furthermore, to find out what needs to be solved in the next step.

Contributed by Herbert Freyhardt, SNF Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Co-editor Materials

Read Full Paper by Yanwei Ma et al

January 1, 2021 (HP 145).  Quantum computing and engineering are rapidly gaining traction, motivated by a quest for million qubits quantum computers. Such a computer may be a decade or more away, yet there is a growing view that “quantum advantage” will be demonstrated in the next few years. Quantum advantage implies quantum computers that customers would buy because they are more effective for their problems than classical supercomputers. This milestone could be the turning point from an industry supported by research funding to one supported by reinvested profits.

This short article shows how CSC’s topic mix that includes both classical and quantum technologies could give CSC a vital role in the development of this important new field.

Contributed by Tony Przybysz, SNF Co-editor Electronics (digital & quantum computing)

Read Full Article by Erik P. DeBenedictis