title: Vortices in high-performance high-temperature superconductors.
abstract: The behavior of vortex matter in high-temperature superconductors (HTS) controls the entire electromagnetic response of the material, including its current carrying capacity. Here, we review the basic concepts of vortex pinning and its application to a complex mixed pinning landscape to enhance the critical current and to reduce its anisotropy. We focus on recent scientific advances that have resulted in large enhancements of the in-field critical current in state-of-the-art second generation (2G) YBCO coated conductors and on the prospect of an isotropic, high-critical current superconductor in the iron-based superconductors. Lastly, we discuss an emerging new paradigm of critical current by design-a drive to achieve a quantitative correlation between the observed critical current density and mesoscale mixed pinning landscapes by using realistic input parameters in an innovative and powerful large-scale time dependent Ginzburg-Landau approach to simulating vortex dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
authors.forename: Wai-Kwong
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Welp
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Glatz
authors.forename: Alexei E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Koshelev
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kihlstrom
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Crabtree