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Electron spin resonance spectrometer with superconducting magnets gives spectrum of dysprosium and samarium ions in calcium ferride
We investigate the effect of an applied magnetic field on the entire HDDR process using a customized reactor vessel and a warm-bore superconducting magnet. We analyzed the resulting properties produced at both a 0 applied field and a 2 Tesla applied field. We show that the application of a magnetic field throughout the HDDR process results in powders that exhibit a greater level of anisotropy compared to their ambient field counterparts.
Adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators (ADR) are operated in space to cool detectors of cosmic radiation to a few 10s of mK. A key element of the ADR is a superconducting magnet operating at about 0.3 K that is continually energized and de-energized in synchronism with a thermal switch, such that a piece of paramagnetic salt is alternately warm in a high magnetic field and cold in zero magnetic field. This causes the salt pill or refrigerant to cool, and it is able to suck heat from an object, e.g., the sensor, to be cooled. Current has to be fed into and out of the magnets from a dissipative power supply at the ambient temperature of the spacecraft. The current leads that link the magnets to the power supply inevitably conduct a significant amount of heat into the colder regions of the supporting cryostat, resulting in the need for larger, heavier, and more powerful supporting refrigerators. The aim of this project was to design and construct high-temperature superconductor (HTS) leads from YBCO (yttrium barium copper oxide) composite conductors to reduce the heat load significantly in the temperature regime below the critical temperature of YBCO. The magnet lead does not have to support current in the event that the YBCO ceases to be superconducting. Cus - tomarily, a normal metal conductor in parallel with the YBCO is a necessary part of the lead structure to allow for this upset condition; however, for this application, the normal metal can be dispensed with. Amorphous silicon dioxide is deposited directly onto the surface of YBCO, which resides on a flexible substrate. The silicon dioxide protects the YBCO from chemically reacting with atmospheric water and carbon dioxide, thus preserving the superconducting properties of the YBCO. The customary protective coating for flexible YBCO conductors is silver or a silver/gold alloy, which conducts heat many orders of magnitude better than SiO2 and so limits the use of such a composite conductor for passing current across a thermal gradient with as little flow of heat as possible to make an efficient current lead. By protecting YBCO on a flexible substrate of low thermal conductivity with SiO2, a thermally efficient and flexible current lead can be fabricated. The technology is also applicable to current leads for 4 K superconducting electronics current biasing. A commercially available thin-film YBCO composite tape conductor is first stripped of its protective silver coating. It is then mounted on a jig that holds the sample flat and acts as a heat sink. Silicon dioxide is then deposited onto the YBCO to a thickness of about 1 micron using PECVD (plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition), without heating the YBCO to the point where degradation occurs. Since SiO2 can have good high-frequency electrical properties, it can be used to coat YBCO cable structures used to feed RF signals across temperature gradients. The prime embodiment concerns the conduction of DC current across the cryogenic temperature gradient. The coating is hard and electrically insulating, but flexible.
We studied magnetic properties of the In–opal nanocomposite, which is a close-packed system of SiO{sub 2} spheres of the same diameter D with metal-filled cavities (series of opal structures with D = 190, 230, and 290 nm were studied). The dependencies of the samples’ magnetization m on temperature T, as well as on external magnetic field H, were measured at various temperatures below the critical temperature T{sub c} of the superconducting (SC) transition. The critical temperature T{sub c} and the critical magnetic field H{sub c} were measured. Magnetization jumps were observed in m(H) dependences at temperatures below 2.6 K. It was found that the jumps are quasiperiodic as functions of H, and the number of jumps increases both with increase in the sweeping rate dH/dt, as well as with decrease in the characteristic size of the In inclusions in the nanocomposite. A model describing the breakup of the SC state with an increase in the external magnetic field is proposed. According to this model, when the screening current reaches a critical value in the near-surface layer of the nanocomposite, an avalanche-like penetration of the field into the volume of the nanocomposite occurs. After this, the SC state is restored, and the magnetic field “freezes” in the structure of the nanocomposite.
The superconducting electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) source magnet for the facility for rare isotope beams at Michigan State University was designed and built by the Superconducting Magnet Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in 2017. The 28 GHz NbTi ion source magnet features a sextupole-in-solenoids configuration which is comparable to the VENUS ECR magnet operated at LBNL. However, the mechanical design of this magnet utilizes a shell-based support structure which allows fine adjustments to the sextupole preload and reversibility of the magnet assembly process. The magnet has been assembled and tested to operational currents at LBNL. This paper describes the mechanical analyses performed to estimate the sextupole's and solenoids' preloads. We will report on the 3-D finite element analysis during room temperature assembly, cool-down, and magnet excitation, and then describe the magnet preload operations. To conclude, we will describe the performance of the support structure during the quench training.
High-field superconducting magnets play a very important role in many large-scale physics experiments, particularly particle colliders and fusion confinement devices such as Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The two most common superconductors used in these applications are NbTi and Nb 3 Sn. Nb 3 Sn wires are favored because of their significantly higher J c (critical current density) for higher field applications. The main disadvantage of Nb 3 Sn is that the superconducting performance of the wire is highly strain sensitive and it is very brittle. This strain sensitivity is strongly influenced by two factors: plasticity and cracked filaments. Cracks are induced by large stress concentrators that can be traced to the presence of voids in the wire. We develop detailed 2-D and 3-D finite-element models containing wire filaments and different possible distributions of voids in a bronze-route Nb 3 Sn wire. We apply compressive transverse loads for various cases of void distributions to simulate the stress and strain response of a Nb 3 Sn wire under the Lorentz force. Furthermore, this paper improves our understanding of the effect voids have on the Nb 3 Sn wire's mechanical properties, and in so, the connection between the distribution of voids and performance degradation such as the correlation between irreversible strain limit and the void-induced local stress concentrations.
The effect of convection during the crystallization of proteins is not very well understood. In a gravitational field, convection is caused by crystal sedimentation and by solutal buoyancy induced flow and these can lead to crystal imperfections. While crystallization in microgravity can approach diffusion limited growth conditions (no convection), terrestrially strong magnetic fields can be used to control fluid flow and sedimentation effects. In this work, a theory is presented on the stability of solutal convection of a magnetized fluid in the presence of a magnetic field. The requirements for stability are developed and compared to experiments performed within the bore of a superconducting magnet. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experiments and show solutal convection can be stabilized if the surrounding fluid has larger magnetic susceptibility and the magnetic field has a specific structure. Discussion on the application of the technique to protein crystallization is also provided.
Fluid flow due to a gravitational field is caused by sedimentation, thermal buoyancy, or solutal buoyancy induced convection. During crystal growth, for example, these flows are undesirable and can lead to crystal imperfections. While crystallization in microgravity can approach diffusion limited growth conditions (no convection), terrestrially strong magnetic fields can be used to control fluid flow and sedimentation effects. In this work, a theory is presented on the stability of solutal convection of a magnetized fluid(weak1y paramagnetic) in the presence of a magnetic field. The requirements for stability are developed and compared to experiments performed within the bore of a superconducting magnet. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experiments. Extension of the technique can also be applied to study artificial gravity requirements for long duration exploration missions. Discussion of this application with preliminary experiments and application of the technique to crystal growth will be provided.
The High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN requires a new generation of high field superconducting magnets. High field large aperture quadrupoles (MQXF) are needed for the low-beta triplets close to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, and high field two-in-one dipoles (11 T dipoles) are needed to make room for additional collimation. The MQXF quadrupoles, with a field gradient of 140 T/m in 150 mm aperture, have a peak coil field of 12.1 T at nominal current. The 11 T dipoles, with an aperture of 60 mm, have a peak coil field of 11.6 T at nominal current. Both magnets require Nb3Sn conductor and are the first applications of this superconductor to actual accelerator magnets.
In this paper, we report a detailed small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) study of the skyrmion lattice phase of MnSi under compressive and tensile strain. In particular, we demonstrate that tensile strain applied to the skyrmion lattice plane, perpendicular to the magnetic field, acts to destabilize the skyrmion lattice phase. Finally, this experiment was enabled by our development of a versatile strain cell, unique in its ability to select the application of either tensile or compressive strain in-situ by using two independent helium-actuated copper pressure transducers, whose design has been optimized for magnetic SANS on modulated long-period magnetic structures and vortex lattices, and is compact enough to fit in common sample environments such as cryostats and superconducting magnets.
The Large Hadron Collider will soon undergo an upgrade to increase its luminosity by a factor of ~10 [1]. A crucial part of this upgrade will be replacement of the NbTi focusing magnets with Nb3Sn magnets that achieve a ~50% increase in the field strength. This will be the first ever large-scale implementation of Nb3Sn magnets in a particle accelerator. The High-Luminosity LHC Upgrade, HL-LHC is a CERN project with a world-wide collaboration. It is under construction and utilizes Nb3Sn Magnets (named MQXF) as key ingredients to increase tenfold the integrated luminosity delivered to the CMS and ATLAS experiments in the next decade. The HL-LHC AUP is the US effort to contribute approximately 50% of the low-beta focusing magnets and crab cavities for the HL-LHC. This paper will present the program to fabricate the Nb3Sn superconducting magnets. We are reporting the status of the HL-LHC AUP project present the results from horizontal tests of the first fully assembled cryo-assembly.
The use of Tesla-class high-temperature superconducting magnets may have an extremely large impact on critical development issues (erosion, heat transfer, and performance) related to magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) thrusters and also may provide significant benefits in reducing the mass of magnetics used in the power processing system. These potential performance improvements, coupled with additional benefits of high-temperature superconductivity, provide a very strong motivation to develop high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) applied-field MPD thruster propulsion systems. The application of HTS to MPD thruster propulsion systems may produce an enabling technology for these electric propulsion systems. This paper summarizes the impact that HTS may have upon MPD propulsion systems.
We are engaged in a research program in safety-critical computing that is based on two case studies. We use these case studies to provide application-specific details of the various research issues, and as targets for evaluation of research ideas. The first case study is the Magnetic Stereotaxis System (MSS), an investigational device for performing human neurosurgery being developed in a joint effort between the Department of Physics at the University of Virginia and the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Iowa. The system operates by manipulating a small permanent magnet (known as a 'seed') within the brain using an externally applied magnetic field. By varying the magnitude and gradient of the external magnetic field, the seed can be moved along a non-linear path and positioned at a site requiring therapy, e.g., a tumor. The magnetic field required for movement through brain tissue is extremely high, and is generated by a set of six superconducting magnets located in a housing surrounding the patient's head. The system uses two X-ray cameras positioned at right angles to detect in real time the locations of the seed and of X-ray opaque markers affixed to the patient's skull. the X-ray images are used to locate the objects of interest in a canonical frame of reference. the second case study is the University of Virginia Research Nuclear Reactor (UVAR). It is a 2 MW thermal, concrete-walled pool reactor. The system operates using 20 to 25 plate-type fuel assemblies placed on a rectangular grid plate. There are three scramable safety rods, and one non-scramable regulating rod that can be put in automatic mode. It was originally constructed in 1959 as a 1 MW system, and it was upgraded to 2 MW in 1973. Though only a research reactor rather than a power reactor, the issues raised are significant and can be related to the problems faced by full-scale reactor systems.
Multifilamentary Ag-sheathed Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O x (Bi-2212) wire can carry sufficient critical current density J c for the development of powerful superconducting magnets. But, the range of its applications is limited by the low mechanical strength of the Ag/Bi-2212 strand. A potential solution is to cable Ag/Bi-2212 wire with high-strength materials that are compatible with the Bi-2212 heat treatment in an oxygen atmosphere. Past attempts have not always been successful, because the high-strength materials reacted with Bi-2212 wires, significantly reducing their J c . We examined the nature of reactions occurring when Ag/Bi-2212 wires are heat-treated in direct contact with several commonly used high-strength alloys and a new Fe-Cr-Al alloy. INCONEL X750 and INCONEL 600 resulted in significant J c loss, whereas Ni80-Cr caused little or no J c loss; however, all of them formed chromium oxide that subsequently reacted with silver, creating cracks in the silver sheath. We found that Fe-Cr-Al did not show significant reactions with Ag/Bi-2212 strands. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray (EDS) examinations revealed that the Fe-Cr-Al alloy benefits from the formation of a uniform, crack-free, continuous alumina layer on its surface that does not react with Ag and that helps minimize the Cu loss found with INCONEL X750 and INCONEL 600. We then fabricated prototype 6-around-1 cables with six Bi-2212 strands twisted and transposed around an Fe-Cr-Al alloy core coated with TiO 2 . After standard 1 bar melt processing, the cable retained 100% of the total current-carrying capability of its strands, and, after a 10 bar overpressure processing, the cable reached a total current of 1025 A at 4.2 K and 10 T. Tensile tests showed that Fe-Cr-Al becomes brittle after being cooled to 4.2 K, whereas INCONEL X750 remains ductile and retains a modulus of 183 GPa. Finally. we proposed new cable designs that take advantage of the chemical compatibility of Fe-Cr-Al and high strength of INCONEL X750 for various high-field magnet applications.
An apparatus is described in which hydrogen atoms were trapped at temperatures down to 1.1 K in the 11 T field of a large volume superconducting magnet. A high sensitivity thermal detector was used to study trapping and recombination of atoms on the detector surface. The apparatus permits the application of extremely high steady state magnetic fields to study the potential effects of electron spin polarization on the stabilization of hydrogen atoms.
Superconductivity research in Korea was firstly carried out in the late 70's by a research group in Seoul National University (SNU), who fabricated a small scale superconducting magnetic energy storage system under the financial support from Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO). But a few researchers were involved in superconductivity research until the oxide high Tc superconductor was discovered by Bednorz and Mueller. After the discovery of YBaCuO superconductor operating above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen (77 K)(exp 2), Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) sponsored a special fund for the high Tc superconductivity research to universities and national research institutes by recognizing its importance. Scientists engaged in this project organized 'High Temperature Superconductivity Research Association (HITSRA)' for effective conducting of research. Its major functions are to coordinate research activities on high Tc superconductivity and organize the workshop for active exchange of information. During last seven years the major superconductivity research has been carried out through the coordination of HITSRA. The major parts of the Korea's superconductivity research program were related to high temperature superconductor and only a few groups were carrying out research on conventional superconductor technology, and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) have led this research. In this talk, the current status and future plans of superconductivity research in Korea will be reviewed based on the results presented in interim meeting of HITSRA, April 1-2, 1994. Taejeon, as well as the research activity of KAERI.
Ni–Ga bilayers are a versatile platform for exploring the competition between strongly antagonistic ferromagnetic and superconducting phases. We characterize the impact of this competition on the transport properties of highly-ballistic Al/Al 2 O 3 (/EuS)/Ni–Ga tunnel junctions from both experimental and theoretical points of view. While the conductance spectra of junctions comprising Ni (3 nm)–Ga (60 nm) bilayers can be well understood within the framework of earlier results, which associate the emerging main conductance maxima with the junction films’ superconducting gaps, thinner Ni (1.6 nm)–Ga (30 nm) bilayers entail completely different physics, and give rise to novel large-bias (when compared to the superconducting gap of the thin Al film as a reference) conductance-peak subseries that we term conductance shoulders. These conductance shoulders might attract considerable attention also in similar magnetic superconducting bilayer junctions, as we predict them to offer an experimentally well-accessible transport signature of superconducting triplet pairings that are induced around the interface of the Ni–Ga bilayer. We further substantiate this claim performing complementary polarized neutron reflectometry measurements on the bilayers, from which we deduce (1) a nonuniform magnetization structure in Ga in a several nanometer-thick area around the Ni–Ga boundary and can simultaneously (2) satisfactorily fit the obtained data only considering the paramagnetic Meissner response scenario. While the latter provides independent experimental evidence of induced triplet superconductivity inside the Ni–Ga bilayer, the former might serve as the first experimental hint of its potential microscopic physical origin. Finally, we introduce a simple phenomenological toy model to confirm also from the theoretical standpoint that superconducting triplet pairings around the Ni–Ga interface can indeed lead to the experimentally observed conductance shoulders, which convinces that our claims are robust and physically justified. Arranging our work in a broader context, we expect that Ni–Ga-bilayer junctions could have a strong potential for future superconducting-spintronics applications whenever an efficient engineering of triplet-pairing superconductivity is required.
The magnetic field at which first flux penetrates is a fundamental parameter characterizing superconducting materials for SRF cavities. Therefore, an accurate technique is needed to measure the penetration of the magnetic field directly. The conventional magnetometers are inconvenient for thin superconducting film measurements because these measurements are strongly influenced by orientation, edge and shape effects. In order to measure the onset of field penetration in bulk, thin films and multi-layered superconductors, we have designed, built and calibrated a system combining a small superconducting solenoid capable of generating surface magnetic field higher than 500 mT and Hall probe to detect the first entry of vortices. This setup can be used to study various promising alternative materials to Nb, especially SIS multilayer coatings on Nb that have been recently proposed to delay the vortex penetration in Nb surface. In this paper, the system will be described and calibration will be presented.