Trapped Magnetic Field Research Articles

The investigation on the regional nanoparticle Ag doping into MgTi0.06B2 bulk for improvement the magnetic levitation force and the bulk critical current

Fabrication methods are important way to improve structural and superconducting properties of MgB2 such as critical current, magnetic levitation force (MLF) and magnetic field trapping capability. Although the graded fabrication technique has been used for single-grain bulk YBCO superconductor to improve critical current and bulk superconducting properties, similar technique as regional doping has not been used for bulk MgB2, until now. In this study, nanoparticle silver doping was carried out in to the bulk MgTi0.06B2 superconductor by using in-situ solid state reaction and partial graded (regional) doping method together, to improve the radius independent uniform bulk current density and the magnetic levitation force as well as the structural properties of the MgB2 bulk superconductors. Both the Jc(0) self-field critical current and Fp (μ0H) pinning force density values enhanced in comparison with the inner region values, when the nanoparticle Ag doping is carried out in to the outer section of the sample. Addition to the enhancement of the structural and the micro electromagnetic properties as Jc(0) and Fp (μ0H), our study also focused on the improved of the bulk Jc and the radius of shielding current loop r, to improve bulk electromagnetic properties as the levitation force. It is seen that the structural properties enhanced and both the vertical levitation force and the lateral guidance force value increased with Ag doping to the outer section of MgTi0.06B2 sample. On the other hand, the increasing ratio of the lateral guidance force of 19.7% and the vertical levitation force of 10.8% of the sample with 3 wt% Ag-doped than the undoped one points out that the regional doping method to the outer section is very suitable for guidance force applications, which is important in the magnetic bearing application such as Maglev and magnetic energy storage systems.

Numerical study to obtain the improved field homogeneity of HTS bulk magnet with enlarged inner diameter for compact NMR

The strength and homogeneity of the magnetic field required for NMR relaxometry device are 1.5 T and 150 ppm/cm3 respectively. It is relatively easy to generate the trapped magnetic field over 1.5 T at 77.4 K using the stacked HTS bulks, and 150 ppm/cm3 field homogeneity was obtained using the fabricated field compensation methods on HTS bulks magnet with 20 mm inner diameter. However, it is still hard to obtain 150 ppm/cm3 field homogeneity without field compensation methods. In this paper, in order to improve the trapped magnetic field homogeneity, the HTS bulk magnet with enlarged inner diameter was proposed and studied as the functions of size and shape of HTS bulk. The analytical study based on FEM was carried out to optimize the shape of HTS bulk magnet with enlarged inner diameter.

Simulation of Field Dependence of Critical Current Densities of Bulk High Tc Superconducting Materials regarding Thermally Activated Flux Motion

In the upcoming generation, bulk high temperature superconductors (HTS) will play a crucial and a promising role in numerous industrial applications ranging from Maglev trains to magnetic resonance imaging, etc. Especially, the bulk HTS as permanent magnets are suitable due to the fact that they can trap magnetic fields being several orders of magnitude higher than those of the best hard ferromagnets. The bulk HTS LREBa2Cu3O7-δ (LREBCO or LRE-123, LRE: Y, Gd, etc.,) materials could obtain very powerful compact superconducting super-magnets, which can be operated at the cheaper liquid nitrogen temperature or below due to higher critical temperatures (i.e., ∼90 K). As a result, the new advanced technology can be utilized in a more attractive manner for a variety of technological and medical applications which have the capacity to revolutionize the field. An understanding of the magnetic field dependence of the critical current density (Jc(H)) is important to develop better adapted materials. To achieve this goal, a variety of Jc(H) behaviours of bulk LREBCO samples were modelled regarding thermally activated flux motion. In essence, the Jc(H) curves follows a certain criterion where an exponential model is applied. However, to fit the complete Jc(H) curve of the LRE-123 samples an unique model is necessary to explain the behavior at low and high fields. The modelling of the various superconducting materials could be understood in terms of the pinning mechanisms.

Influence of Artificial Defects on Trapped Field Performance in a Superconducting Bulk Magnet

In this study, we attempt to improve the trapped magnetic field by pulsed-field magnetization using REBCO bulk with small holes processed artificially. In our previous study, a hole was opened in the growth sector region (GSR) in accordance with the idea that the performance of the growth sector boundary (GSB) was not reduced because the critical current density of the GSB was higher than that of the GSR. In the next study, a small hole was processed on the GSB to decrease the magnetic shield toward the magnetic flux that entered through the GSB. The experimental results suggested that placing a hole on the GSB was advantageous to trapped field performance as compared with placing a hole at the GSR. In this paper, three more holes were processed in the bulk with a single hole on the GSB, and trapped field performance was investigated. Although the performance was decreased overall in the bulk with four holes, we confirmed that the peak value of total magnetic flux shifted to the low applied magnetic field, although the maximum value was almost the same as that of the bulk with a single hole.

Magnetic levitation using a stack of high temperature superconducting tape annuli

Stacks of large width superconducting tape can carry persistent currents over similar length scales to bulk superconductors, therefore giving them potential for trapped field magnets and magnetic levitation. 46 mm wide high temperature superconducting tape has previously been cut into square annuli to create a 3.5 T persistent mode magnet. The same tape pieces were used here to form a composite bulk hollow cylinder with an inner bore of 26 mm. Magnetic levitation was achieved by field cooling with a pair of rare-earth magnets. This paper reports the axial levitation force properties of the stack of annuli, showing that the same axial forces expected for a uniform bulk cylinder of infinite Jc can be generated at 20 K. Levitation forces up to 550 N were measured between the rare-earth magnets and stack. Finite element modelling in COMSOL Multiphysics using the H-formulation was also performed including a full critical state model for induced currents, with temperature and field dependent properties as well as the influence of the ferromagnetic substrate which enhances the force. Spark erosion was used for the first time to machine the stack of tapes proving that large stacks can be easily machined to high geometric tolerance. The stack geometry tested is a possible candidate for a rotary superconducting bearing.

Simulation and experiments of stacks of high temperature superconducting coated conductors magnetized by pulsed field magnetization with multi-pulse technique

High temperature superconducting bulks or stacks of coated conductors (CCs) can be magnetized to become trapped field magnets (TFMs). The magnetic fields of such TFMs can break the limitation of conventional magnets (<2 T), so they show potential for improving the performance of many electrical applications that use permanent magnets like rotating machines. Towards practical or commercial use of TFMs, effective in situ magnetization is one of the key issues. The pulsed field magnetization (PFM) is among the most promising magnetization methods in virtue of its compactness, mobility and low cost. However, due to the heat generation during the magnetization, the trapped field and flux acquired by PFM usually cannot achieve the full potential of a sample (acquired by the field cooling or zero field cooling method). The multi-pulse technique was found to effectively improve the trapped field by PFM in practice. In this work, a systematic study on the PFM with successive pulses is presented. A 2D electromagnetic-thermal coupled model with comprehensive temperature dependent parameters is used to simulate a stack of CCs magnetized by successive magnetic pulses. An overall picture is built to show how the trapped field and flux evolve with different pulse sequences and the evolution patterns are analyzed. Based on the discussion, an operable magnetization strategy of PFM with successive pulses is suggested to provide more trapped field and flux. Finally, experimental results of a stack of CCs magnetized by typical pulse sequences are presented for demonstration.

Electromagnetic behaviour of bulk MgB2 determined by numerical modelling using regional supercurrent properties

Previous studies in the literature have shown experimentally that the critical current density in bulk MgB2 depends on the position at which it is measured within the sample, and that the trapped magnetic field saturates above large values of sample diameter. To better understand this behaviour, we have carried out a detailed study of the trapped magnetic field and local critical current distribution in bulk MgB2 using numerical modelling with H-formulation. The properties of bulk MgB2 samples with radius-independent (i.e. uniform) and radius-dependent critical current were modelled, based on experimentally-determined parameters obtained from the literature. Radius-independent samples took properties originally derived from either the central or edge region of the original samples. In our study it was determined that the peak trapped magnetic field value of the sample with the central region properties was higher by 22.4% and 9.20% than the samples with edge region properties and that with radius dependent parameter, respectively. Additionally, to understand why the trapped magnetic field saturates as the diameter of sample increases, the trapped magnetic field was modelled using the radius dependent critical current density Jc (B,r) as input data rather than using a constant bulk critical current density. The peak trapped magnetic field values increase by 8.6% and 6.2% respectively for the central region radius-independent and radius-dependent property bulk MgB2 samples as the bulk diameter increases from 25 mm to 35 mm. This tendency to saturation in the peak trapped field indicates that increasing the bulk diameter alone does not have a significant effect on the value of the trapped magnetic field, unless the bulk superconducting current density is improved uniformly throughout the MgB2 bulk. These results enable us to understand how we can experimentally enhance the trapped magnetic field in bulk MgB2 by producing samples with uniform high critical current density distribution using fabrication methods such as graded doping.

Crossing Phenomena and Flux Balance in the Force–Displacement Hysteresis Curve of Superconductor–Magnet System

Three YBCO bulk superconductors with different critical current densities are used to investigate the magnetic force of a simple superconductor–magnet system under different relative speed values between YBCO and a magnet. The initial cooling processes for superconductors include zero field cooled (ZFC) and field cooled (FC). Crossing phenomena can be observed both in force–displacement hysteresis curves of superconductors with high and very low critical current densities. The maximum repulsive force under different relative speed values is analyzed. For the high-performance superconductor, the ZFC maximum repulsive force increases at first and reaches a peak value and then decreases with the increase of relative speed. When the magnet reaches 0.1 mm above the minimum clearance and its speed is changed to 0.1 mm/s for 1 s, the levitation force increases a lot at first and then decreases during this very slow approaching process to the minimum clearance. Based on the experimental results and analysis, the crossing phenomena reflect the effect of vortex dynamic and are directly related to the flux balance between trapped magnetic field and flux creep.

Effect of interstitial impurities on the field dependent microwave surface resistance of niobium

Previous work has demonstrated that the radio frequency surface resistance of niobium resonators is dramatically reduced when nitrogen impurities are dissolved as interstitial in the material. This effect is attributed to the lowering of the Mattis-Bardeen surface resistance with increasing accelerating field; however, the microscopic origin of this phenomenon is poorly understood. Meanwhile, an enhancement of the sensitivity to trapped magnetic field is typically observed for such cavities. In this paper, we conduct a systematic study on these different components contributing to the total surface resistance as a function of different levels of dissolved nitrogen, in comparison with standard surface treatments for niobium resonators. Adding these results together, we are able to show which is the optimum surface treatment that maximizes the Q-factor of superconducting niobium resonators as a function of expected trapped magnetic field in the cavity walls. These results also provide insights on the physics behind the change in the field dependence of the Mattis-Bardeen surface resistance, and of the trapped magnetic vortex induced losses in superconducting niobium resonators.

Dissipative dust-acoustic shock waves in a varying charge electronegative magnetized dusty plasma with trapped electrons

The combined effects of an oblique magnetic field and electron trapping on dissipative dust-acoustic waves are examined in varying charge electronegative dusty plasmas with application to the Halley Comet plasma (∼104 km from the nucleus). A weakly nonlinear analysis is carried out to derive a modified Korteweg-de Vries-Burger-like equation. Making use of the equilibrium current balance equation, the physically admissible values of the electron trapping parameter are first constrained. We then show that the Burger dissipative term is solely due to the dust charge variation process. It is found that an increase of the magnetic field obliqueness or a decrease of its magnitude renders the shock structure more dispersive.

Trapped field of 1.1 T without flux jumps in an MgB2 bulk during pulsed field magnetization using a split coil with a soft iron yoke

MgB2 superconducting bulks have promising potential as trapped field magnets. We have achieved a trapped field of Bz = 1.1 T on a high-Jc MgB2 bulk at 13 K without flux jumps by pulsed field magnetization (PFM) using a split-type coil with a soft iron yoke, which is a record-high trapped field by PFM for bulk MgB2 to date. The flux jumps, which frequently took place using a solenoid-type coil during PFM, were avoided by using the split-type coil, and the Bz value was enhanced by the insertion of soft iron yoke. The flux dynamics and heat generation/propagation were analyzed during PFM using a numerical simulation, in which the magnetic flux intruded and attenuated slowly in the bulk and tended to align along the axial direction due to the presence of soft iron yoke. The advantages of the split-type coil and the simultaneous use of a soft iron yoke are discussed.

Synthetic Landau levels for photons.

Synthetic photonic materials are an emerging platform for exploring the interface between microscopic quantum dynamics and macroscopic material properties. Photons experiencing a Lorentz force develop handedness, providing opportunities to study quantum Hall physics and topological quantum science. Here we present an experimental realization of a magnetic field for continuum photons. We trap optical photons in a multimode ring resonator to make a two-dimensional gas of massive bosons, and then employ a non-planar geometry to induce an image rotation on each round-trip. This results in photonic Coriolis/Lorentz and centrifugal forces and so realizes the Fock–Darwin Hamiltonian for photons in a magnetic field and harmonic trap. Using spatial- and energy-resolved spectroscopy, we track the resulting photonic eigenstates as radial trapping is reduced, finally observing a photonic Landau level at degeneracy. To circumvent the challenge of trap instability at the centrifugal limit, we constrain the photons to move on a cone. Spectroscopic probes demonstrate flat space (zero curvature) away from the cone tip. At the cone tip, we observe that spatial curvature increases the local density of states, and we measure fractional state number excess consistent with the Wen–Zee theory, providing an experimental test of this theory of electrons in both a magnetic field and curved space. This work opens the door to exploration of the interplay of geometry and topology, and in conjunction with Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency, enables studies of photonic fractional quantum Hall fluids and direct detection of anyons.

Influence of Parameters on the Simulation of HTS Bulks Magnetized by Pulsed Field Magnetization

High-temperature superconducting (HTS) bulks can be magnetized to become powerful trapped field magnets (TFMs), which are promising for high-performance electrical applications. To magnetize such TFMs, pulsed field magnetization (PFM) is supposed to substitute field cooling (FC) to provide in situ magnetization. However, the heat generation during PFM, which reduces the trapped field, has always been an issue; thus, numerical simulation of the process is important to provide optimal magnetization strategies. In this paper, HTS bulks magnetized by PFM are simulated with an axisymmetric electromagnetic-thermal coupled model based on the H-formulation. Influences of important yet difficult-to-characterize parameters of HTS bulks, including n values in the E-J power law and B 0 in the Kim model, are investigated to show the influences of parameters on the modeling of HTS by PFM.

Enhanced trapped field performance of bulk high-temperature superconductors using split coil, pulsed field magnetization with an iron yoke

Investigating and predicting the magnetization of bulk superconducting materials and developing practical magnetizing techniques is crucial to using them as trapped field magnets in engineering applications. The pulsed field magnetization (PFM) technique is considered to be a compact, mobile and relative inexpensive way to magnetize bulk samples, requiring shorter magnetization times (on the order of milliseconds) and a smaller and less complicated magnetization fixture; however, the trapped field produced by PFM is generally much smaller than that of slower zero field cooling or field cooling techniques, particularly at lower operating temperatures. In this paper, the PFM of two, standard Ag-containing Gd–Ba–Cu–O samples is carried out using two types of magnetizing coils: (1) a solenoid coil, and (2) a split coil, both of which make use of an iron yoke to enhance the trapped magnetic field. It is shown that a significantly higher trapped field can be achieved using a split coil with an iron yoke, and in order to explain these how this arrangement works in detail, numerical simulations using a 2D axisymmetric finite element method based on the H-formulation are carried to qualitatively reproduce and analyze the magnetization process from both electromagnetic and thermal points of view. It is observed that after the pulse peak significantly less flux exits the bulk when the iron core is present, resulting in a higher peak trapped field, as well as more overall trapped flux, after the magnetization process is complete. The results have important implications for practical applications of bulk superconductors as such a split coil arrangement with an iron yoke could be incorporated into the design of a portable, high magnetic field source/magnet to enhance the available magnetic field or in an axial gap-type bulk superconducting electric machine, where iron can be incorporated into the stator windings to (1) improve the trapped field from the magnetization process, and (2) increase the effective air-gap magnetic field.

Quantum transitions and quantum entanglement from Dirac-like dynamics simulated by trapped ions

Quantum transition probabilities and quantum entanglement for two-qubit states of a four-level trapped ion quantum system are computed for time-evolving ionic states driven by Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonians with interactions mapped onto a $\text{SU}(2)\ensuremath{\bigotimes}\text{SU}(2)$ group structure. Using the correspondence of the method of simulating a $3+1$ dimensional Dirac-like Hamiltonian for bispinor particles into a single trapped ion, one preliminarily obtains the analytical tools for describing ionic state transition probabilities as a typical quantum oscillation feature. For Dirac-like structures driven by generalized Poincar\'e classes of coupling potentials, one also identifies the $\text{SU}(2)\ensuremath{\bigotimes}\text{SU}(2)$ internal degrees of freedom corresponding to intrinsic parity and spin polarization as an adaptive platform for computing the quantum entanglement between the internal quantum subsystems which define two-qubit ionic states. The obtained quantum correlational content is then translated into the quantum entanglement of two-qubit ionic states with quantum numbers related to the total angular momentum and to its projection onto the direction of the trapping magnetic field. Experimentally, the controllable parameters simulated by ion traps can be mapped into a Dirac-like system in the presence of an electrostatic field which, in this case, is associated to ionic carrier interactions. Besides exhibiting a complete analytical profile for ionic quantum transitions and quantum entanglement, our results indicate that carrier interactions actively drive an overall suppression of the quantum entanglement.

Effect of an Elliptical Inclusion on Critical Current Density of a Long Cylindrical High-T c Superconductor

An analytical investigation is presented to display the distribution of critical current flow and trapped magnetic field around an elliptical nonsuperconducting inclusion within a long cylindrical superconductor. The current streamlines, the critical current density, and the trapped field around the inclusion in the superconductor without deformation are obtained based on the Bean model and the method of conformal mapping. The results show that the critical current density of a superconductor will be decreased dramatically due to a macroscopic nonsuperconducting inclusion. Besides, the maximum trapped magnetic field is limited by the inclusion.

Reactor for boron fusion with picosecond ultrahigh power laser pulses and ultrahigh magnetic field trapping

Compared with the deuterium tritium (DT) fusion, the environmentally clean fusion of protons with 11B is extremely difficult. When instead of nanosecond laser pulses for thermal-ablating driven ignition, picosecond pulses are used, a drastic change by nonlinearity results in ultrahigh acceleration of plasma blocks. This radically changes to economic boron fusion by a measured new avalanche ignition.

How Moats Protect Superconductor Films From Flux Trapping

Trapping of residual magnetic field degrades the performance and, in extreme cases, destroys operability of superconductor digital circuits. It is known that moats or narrow cuts made in superconductor thin films are able to “immunize” them from flux trapping. So far, an intuition rather than science has played a more significant role in the selection of geometry and density of these moats. We formalized an estimation of the moat efficiency. This procedure involves the calculation of Gibbs potentials of arbitrary shaped films in a magnetic field and comparison of the potentials with and without vortices in the film and magnetic flux frozen in the moats. We numerically simulate evolutions of the Gibbs potentials of films slowly cooled in a constant residual magnetic field. The simulations allow forecasting equilibrium distributions of vortices and fluxes trapped in the moats corresponding to the lowest potentials. The superconductor film becomes immune to the trapping Pearl vortices if the lowest Gibbs potential can be achieved without such Pearl vortices.

Measurements and Numerical Simulations of Trapped Field in a Stack of HTS Tapes

Trapped field magnets are usually constructed on the base of bulk YBCO superconductors. However, recent achievements in the production of long-size coated conductors have opened the opportunity of using a tape stack for these applications. Better thermal conductivity, mechanical stability in high fields, and high critical current densities make such systems favorable. Moreover, the tape form of the conductor allows for organizing different spatial structures and optimizing device design. Trapped field was measured on the stack of high-temperature superconducting tapes in this work. An industrially stabilized (with copper shield) tape, which was produced by SuperOx company with GdBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x superconductor inside, was used in experiments. The stack was made of 12-mm-diameter disk-shaped tapes, and the height was 20 layers. Magnetization was carried out by an 8-T superconducting magnet on the temperature of 77 K. To calculate the trapped field of a stack, field dependence and angular field dependence of critical current were measured on these tapes. The finite-element method was used for numerical simulations. It is shown that taking into account the magnetic field orientation in different areas of the stack leads to better agreement with the experimental measured trapped field values.

Influence of crossed fields in structures combining large grain, bulk (RE)BCO superconductors and soft ferromagnetic discs

Bulk (RE)BCO superconductors are able to trap record magnetic fields and can be used as powerful permanent magnets in various engineering applications such as rotating machines and magnetic bearings. When such superconducting (SC) “trapped field magnets” are combined to a ferromagnetic (FM) disc, the total magnetic moment is increased with respect to that of the superconductor alone. In the present work, we study experimentally the magnetic behaviour of such hybrid FM/SC structures when they are subjected to cycles of applied field that are orthogonal to their permanent magnetization, i.e. a “crossed-field” configuration. Experimental results show that the usual “crossed-field demagnetization” caused by the cycles of transverse field is strongly reduced in the presence of the ferromagnet.