Use of 2G coated conductors for efficient shielding of DC magnetic fields

TL;DR

This study experimentally evaluates the effectiveness of YBCO coated conductor-based magnetic shields at 77 K, demonstrating significant attenuation of external magnetic fields and potential for large-scale applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel shielding configuration using standard YBCO coated conductors capable of efficient magnetic field attenuation at 77 K.

Findings

Single-layer YBCO screen attenuates 5 mT field by over tenfold

Persistent current flow is maintained in azimuthal direction at 77 K

Low-Tc joint-based screens show comparative performance

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation of the performance of two types of magnetic screens assembled from YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO) coated conductors. Since effective screening of the axial DC magnetic field requires the unimpeded flow of an azimuthal persistent current, we demonstrate a configuration of a screening shell made out of standard YBCO coated conductor capable to accomplish that. The screen allows the persistent current to flow in the predominantly azimuthal direction at a temperature of 77 K. The persistent screen, incorporating a single layer of superconducting film, can attenuate an external magnetic field of up to 5 mT by more than an order of magnitude. For comparison purposes, another type of screen which incorporates low critical temperature quasi-persistent joints was also built. The shielding technique we describe here appears to be especially promising for the realization of large scale high-Tc superconducting screens.