Electromagnetic and metrological applications of superconductivity: An Australian historical perspective

This retrospective survey of 40 years of research on superconducting electronics and instrumentation describes some aspects of progress in the understanding of superconductivity. Not all of the outstanding results and applications have stemmed directly from the original zero-resistance discovery of Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911. This paper will aim to touch upon and describe a number of significant topics and applications that have emerged, starting from work on electrotechnology that was initiated in the late 1960s by several metrology laboratories in Australia and elsewhere following Josephson´s theoretical discoveries. The growing field of quantum applications now extends across the electromagnetic spectrum. Significant developments have occurred in areas such as minerals exploration, sub-ocean surveying, geo-archaeometry, magneto-encephalography, telecommunications, THz remote sensing, single-photon detection, and radio astronomy.