Neutron irradiation of coated conductors

Abstract

Various commercial coated conductors were irradiated with fast neutrons in order to introducerandomly distributed, uncorrelated defects which increase the critical current density,Jc, in a wide temperatureand field range. The Jc-anisotropy is significantly reduced and the angular dependence ofJc does not obey the anisotropic scaling approach. These defects enhance the irreversibilityline in not fully optimized tapes, but they do not in state-of-the-art conductors.Neutron irradiation provides a clear distinction between the low field region, whereJc is limited by the grain boundaries, and the high field region, where depinning leads todissipation.