Stability of a (2G) Coated, Thin-Film YBaCuO 123 Superconductor: Intermediate Summary

Abstract

This paper summarises results obtained with stability calculations of thin films and multi-filamentary superconductors. In a series of papers, all the contributions have been published in this journal. We now extend our previous investigations to the temporal aspect of the internal heat transfer and to the material homogeneity problem. Within multi-component heat transfer (solid conduction, radiation), the standard theory of radiative transfer in a coated, thin-film, YBaCuO3 123 superconductor correctly treats the energetic aspects of radiation propagation; this is the actual core of stability models. But a rigorous solution of the temporal aspect still is missing. It is the study of this aspect that would provide a new access to the physics of superconductor stability, in particular if after a disturbance the system is already close to a phase transition. A matrix formulation, using a combination of Monte Carlo and radiative transfer calculations, is suggested to circumvent the temporal solid conduction/radiative transfer problem in multi-component heat flow. As an important result, quench is not an event that proceeds instantaneously. Instead, it is a process the speed of which decreases the more, the closer the superconductor temperature approaches critical temperature until the residual number of electron pairs becomes too small to support critical current. The stability of superconductors and thermal fluctuations might reflect a common background: the relaxation time of the density of electron pairs after disturbances.