2015 Joint UK-Japan Workshop on Physics and Applications of Superconductivity

2013年是英国和日本建立贸易、科学、文化和外交关系400周年，2011年是Heike Kamerlingh Onnes发现超导100周年。几十年来，英国和日本在超导物理和应用领域都建立了世界领先的研究小组。然而，例如，直到最近几年，长长度的高质量磁带高温超导（HTS）材料才出现，这种材料目前在实际应用中显示出最大的希望。在物理学和材料科学的其他领域也有持续的发展，这导致了近年来新型超导体的发展，如二硼化镁（MgB2）和铁氧化物。由于材料的复杂性，基础研究仍然是必要的，而应用研究可以从新的超导体的发现中获益，这些超导体可以提供比现有材料更好的性能。在超导材料工程和应用超导领域，物理学与工程有着密切的互补关系。在过去的几十年里，日本在超导研究方面的努力尤其如此，这使得这成为研讨会的一个自然主题。尽管已经取得了大量的进展，但关于超导的潜在物理机制仍有许多未解决的问题——例如，高温超导的完整理论仍被证明是难以捉摸的。应用研究对于发展超导的实际应用也是必要的。例如，仅在电气工程领域，由于预期的性能和效率的提高，以及更小的尺寸和重量，人们对在电机和其他电力应用（如变压器和电缆）中使用这些材料很感兴趣。超导体也被用于量子计算领域——例如，目前唯一在售的量子计算机使用超导通量量子比特，在量子光子学中用作单光子探测器。研讨会将由资深学者的长篇演讲和早期职业研究人员和学生的短篇演讲组成，涵盖广泛的主题，从解释超导的基础物理学到新超导材料的开发和预测，再到实用和商业上可行的超导器件的设计。汇集来自英国和日本的世界领先的物理学和超导应用研究人员，将为鼓励思想交流和科学讨论提供完美的平台，并允许研究人员之间形成正式和非正式的国际合作。现在正是汇集两国顶尖研究人员参加多学科研讨会的最佳时机，讨论当前的最新技术和问题，并帮助指导这些高度互补领域的未来研究方向。

2013 was the 400th anniversary of the opening of trade, scientific, cultural and diplomatic ties between the UK and Japan, and 2011 was the 100th anniversary of the discovery of superconductivity by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. Both the UK and Japan have developed world-leading research groups in the fields of the physics and applications of superconductivity over a number of decades. However, it is only in recent years, for example, that long lengths of high-quality tape high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials, which show the most promise currently for meaning practical applications, have been available. There are also continuing developments in other areas of physics and materials science, too, which have led to the development in recent years of new superconductors, such as magnesium diboride (MgB2) and the iron pnictides.Fundamental research is still required because of the complexity of the materials, and applications research can benefit greatly from the discovery of new superconductors that offer improvements over existing materials. There is a close and complementary relationship between physics and engineering in this field, with many physicists now working in superconducting materials engineering and applied superconductivity. This is particularly true of the effort in superconductivity research in Japan over the past couple of decades, and makes this a natural theme for the workshop. Although a great number of developments have already taken place, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the underlying physical mechanisms of superconductivity - a complete theory is still proving elusive for high temperature superconductivity, for example.Applied research is also necessary to develop practical, real world applications of superconductivity. In the field of electrical engineering alone, for example, the expected improved performance and efficiency, as well as smaller size and weight, has seen much interest in using these materials in electric machines and other electric power applications such as transformers and cables. Superconductors are also being used in the field of quantum computing - for example, the only quantum computer currently on sale uses superconducting flux qubits and in quantum photonics as single photon detectors.The workshop will be comprised of longer contributed talks by senior academics and shorter contributed talks by early career researchers and students, and cover a wide range of themes, ranging from the underlying physics that explains superconductivity to the development and prediction of new superconducting materials to the design of practical and commercially viable superconducting devices. Bringing together a critical mass of world-leading researchers of the physics and applications of superconductivity from the UK and Japan will provide the perfect platform to encourage exchange of ideas and scientific discussions and allow the formation of formal and informal international collaborations between researchers. It is now the perfect time to bring together leading researchers from the two countries for a multidisciplinary workshop to discuss the current state-of-the-art and problems, and to help guide the future direction of research in these highly complementary fields.