Large magneto-thermal-switching ratio in superconducting Pb wires

Abstract

Thermal switching by magnetic fields is one of the important functionalities in thermal management technologies. In low-temperature devices, superconducting states can be used as a magneto-thermal-switching (MTS) component because carrier thermal conductivity (κ) is strongly suppressed in superconducting states. Recently, we demonstrated that the MTS ratio (MTSR) of pure Nb reached 650% at a temperature (T) of 2.5 K under a magnetic field (H) of 4.0 kOe [Yoshida et al., Appl. Phys. Express 16, 033002 (2023)]. In this study, to enrich knowledge on MTS of superconductors, the MTSRs of pure Pb wires with 5 N and 3 N purities were investigated by measuring the temperature or magnetic-field dependences of κ. For 5N-Pb, a large MTSR exceeding 1000% was observed below 3.6 K under H > 600 Oe. Although higher MTSRs were expected at lower temperatures under H > 600 Oe, the obtained data under those conditions were accompanied by large errors due to magnetic-field-induced huge κ at low temperatures. In contrast, the κ for 3N-Pb was observed to be clearly lower than that for 5N-Pb. Although the magnetic-field-induced change in κ was small, the MTSR at T = 2.5 K was 300%. These results suggest that Pb is a promising material for low-temperature magneto-thermal switching because of wide-range κ tunable by magnetic field and purity.