Oriented superconductors for AC power transmission

A power transmission line comprising:

• a plurality of electrically conductive elements arranged in a first set of elements and a second set of elements spaced apart from said first set of elements, the elements of each of said sets being arranged along an axis oriented in a direction of power flow, each element of each of said sets comprising a superconductive material having anisotropic magnetic parameters and a crystalline structure formed about a basal crystalline plane, the material in each element exhibiting superconductivity and a linear hysteresis-free magnetization characteristic in the presence of an applied magnetic field less than a lower critical field, the lower critical field having a maximum value in a direction perpendicular to the basal plane;
• means for supporting said electrically conductive elements in each of said sets with their respective basal crystallographic planes substantially parallel to said axis, said supporting means holding said first and said second sets of elements in an array to form a conductor of said transmission line;
• wherein, upon transmission of electric current through the transmission line in a direction of said axis, a flow of current in one of said sets of elements produces a magnetic field directed perpendicularly to the basal plane of an element of the other of said sets of elements.