Vibration characteristics of a continuously rotating superconducting magnetic bearing and potential influence to TES and SQUID

TL;DR

This study measures the vibration and magnetic field variations of a superconducting magnetic bearing prototype at liquid nitrogen temperature, assessing potential impacts on TES and SQUID sensors in a space telescope application.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of vibration and magnetic field fluctuations of a superconducting magnetic bearing prototype relevant to space telescope instrumentation.

Findings

Vibration amplitude limited to 36 μm at synchronous frequency

Magnetic field variation at the focal plane quantified

Estimated impact on TES temperature stability and SQUID flux is minimal

Abstract

We measured the vibration of a prototype superconducting magnetic bearing (SMB) operating at liquid nitrogen temperature. This prototype system was designed as a breadboard model for LiteBIRD low-frequency telescope (LFT) polarization modulator unit. We set an upper limit of the vibration amplitude at $36~\mathrm{\mu m}$ at the rotational synchronous frequency. During the rotation, the amplitude of the magnetic field produced varies. From this setup, we compute the static and AC amplitude of the magnetic fields produced by the SMB magnet at the location of the LFT focal plane as $0.24~\mathrm{G}$ and $3\times10^{-5}$$~\mathrm{G}$, respectively. From the AC amplitude, we compute TES critical temperature variation of $7\times10^{-8}$$~\mathrm{K}$ and fractional change of the SQUID flux is $\delta \Phi/\Phi_0|_{ac}=3.1\times10^{-5}$. The mechanical vibration can be also estimated to be $3.6\times 10^{-2}$$~\mathrm{N}$ at the rotation mechanism location.