Discovery
BSCCO as a new class of superconductor was discovered by Maeda and coworkers at the National Research Institute for Metals in Japan, though at the time they were unable to determine its precise composition and structure. Almost immediately several groups, and most notably Subramanian et al at Dupont and Cava et al at AT&T Bell Labs, identified Bi-2212. The n=3 member proved quite elusive and was not identified until a month or so later by Tallon et al in a government research lab in New Zealand. There have been only minor improvements to these materials since. A key early development was to replace about 15% of the Bi by Pb, which greatly accelerated the formation and quality of Bi-2223.
Read more about this topic: Bismuth Strontium Calcium Copper Oxide
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