Second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wires are based on a coated conductor technology. They follow on from a first generation (1G) HTS wire consisting of a composite multifilamentary wire architecture. During the last couple of years, rapid progress has been made in the development of 2G HTS wire, which is now displacing 1G HTS wire for most if not all applications. The engineering critical current density of these wires matches or exceeds that of 1G wire, and the mechanical properties are also superior. Scale-up of manufacturing is proceeding rapidly, with several companies already supplying the order of 10 km annually for test and demonstration. Coils of increasing sophistication are being demonstrated. One especially attractive application, that relies on the specific properties of 2G HTS wire, is fault current limitation. By incorporating a high resistivity stabilizer in the coated conductor, one can achieve high resistance in a quenched state during a fault event and at the same time provide significant heat capacity to limit the temperature rise. A test of a 2.25 MVA single phase system at 7.5 kV employing such wire by the Siemens/AMSC team has demonstrated all the key features required for a cost-effective commercial system. A novel approach to providing fault current limiting functionality in HTS cables has also been introduced.

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The Fermi surface (FS) of the new organic metal (BEDT-TTF)4[Ni(dto)2] has been investigated by de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) and Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) experiments. In both quantum oscillations with two different frequencies Fα = 634 T and F β = 4245 T are observed. These results confirm the calculated FS, which consists of one-dimensional and twodimensional parts separated by a small energy gap. It is shown that the temperature and field dependence of the oscillation amplitudes can be well described by standard Lifshitz-Kosevich theory considering the magnetic breakdown by the so-called coupled network model. Beatings of the oscillation amplitudes are observed by field-dependent dHvA and SdH experiments. They can be explained by a slightly warped FS showing that this material represents a quasitwo-dimensional electronic system. The observed beating nodes in the dHvA and SdH signals appear at different magnetic fields. This fact is discussed in terms of additional scattering mechanisms.