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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNoSpacing>Master’s thesis defense that may be of interest to your graduate students.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing><br>Suresh Khator<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>_______________________________________________________</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>Suresh K. Khator, Ph.D., P.E. Phone: 713-743-4205 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>Associate Dean, College of Engineering Fax: 713-743-4214<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>University of Houston Email: skhator@uh.edu <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>E421 Engineering Bldg 2 www.egr.uh.edu/ie<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif";color:blue'>Houston, TX 77204-4008<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing align=center style='text-align:center'>A Systematic Study of Zirconium doping on REBa2Cu3O7-x (RE = Gd, Y) Films Grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:200%'>By Jose Albert P. Guevara<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>November 16, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing align=center style='text-align:center;line-height:200%'>Abstract<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing style='line-height:200%'>Superconducting REBa<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>7-x</sub> (REBCO; RE = Y, Gd, Nd, Sm) thin films show good properties in magnetic fields compared to other types of superconductors. These properties are further improved by introducing nanoscale defects into the film. One promising technique is the addition of BaZrO<sub>3</sub> (BZO) nanoparticles. In this study, a reel-to-reel metal organic chemical vapor deposition system is used to deposit REBCO films from metal organic precursors to a LaMnO<sub>3</sub>-capped substrate. A systematic study of varying amounts of Zr doping at different growth rates was performed. It was determined that 7.5 mol% Zr shows the best in-field properties. Multilayers of high-Zr, medium-Zr and Zr-free layers show improved properties when the higher-Zr layer is on top of a lower-Zr layer. The improvement with Zr doping increases with thickness. Most of the measurements are done at 77 K in zero to 1 T magnetic field. X-ray diffraction, TEM and SEM aided microstructure analysis.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing style='line-height:200%'><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNoSpacing style='line-height:200%'>Committee Panel Members<a name="_GoBack"></a>: Venkat Selvamanickam, Mechanical Engineering, Li Sun, Mechanical Engineering, Arnold M. Guloy, Chemistry<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>