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The achievement of large critical currents is critical to the applications of high-temperature superconductors. Recent developments have shown that melt processing is suitable for producing high J_c oxide superconductors. Using magnetic forces between such high J_c oxide superconductors and magnets, a person could be levitated.

This book has grown largely out of research works on melt processing of high-temperature superconductors conducted at ISTEC Superconductivity Research Laboratory. The chapters build on melt processing, microstructural characterization, fundamentals of flux pinning, critical current, and applications of bulk monolithic superconductors. The text also describes the basic mechanism of levitation and its application. This book will be useful for research workers, engineers, and graduate students in the field of superconductivity.

List of Authors: H Fujimoto, S Gotoh, T Izumi; N Koshizuka, K Miya, M Murakami, N Nakamura, Y Nakamura, Y Shiohara, H Takaichi, T Taguchi, M Uesaka, H W Weber, K Yamaguchi.