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US 5,087,610 AGranted
Switchable superconducting elements and pixels arrays
AssigneeInternational Superconductor Corp.
InventorAharon Z. Hed
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An array of superconducting elements in which each element can be quenched into the nonsuperconductive or normal state independently at will. The array can be used to form spatially and temporally variable images or for forming spatially and temporally variable magnetic fields. The array is controlled in the form of a network of electrically interconnected superconducting elements in which a given element is quenched if and only if two independent parameters are applied to the element simultaneously.
Claims22
A multielement control or display device, comprising:
- an array of discrete flat, intrinsically continuous superconductive elements in mutually parallel rows and, orthogonal to aid rows, in mutually parallel columns and constituting individual pixels of said array, each of said superconductive elements being composed of a material having a critical temperature below which the superconductive element is in a superconductive state and above which the superconductive element is in a nonsuperconductive state and a critical current density below which said superconductive element is in said superconductive state and above which the superconductive element is in said nonsuperconductive state, said superconductive elements also switching between said states upon application of a critical magnetic field, whereby applied current traversing said elements, applied temperatures of said elements and applied magnetic fields affecting said elements form state-changing parameters of said elements;
- and
- means for selectively applying at least one of said parameters to at least selected ones of said elements to quench said selected ones of said elements to provide selected directly optically discernible patterns of said pixels of said array.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.