A survey of possible passive antenna applications of high-temperature superconductors

A survey of possible applications of high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) to antennas and antenna feed networks is presented. The frequency range considered is 1 MHz for 100 GHz. Three antenna application areas seem appropriate for HTS material: electrically small antennas and their matching networks; feed and matching networks for compact arrays with enhanced directive gain (superdirective arrays); and feed networks for millimeter-wave arrays. Preliminary experimental results are presented on YBaCuO and TlBaCaCuO 500 MHz half-loop antennas that show an increase in radiation efficiency (compared with a copper antenna at the same temperature) by a factor of 5 for the HTS antennas.<
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