The Effect of Proton Irradiation on the Critical Current of Commercially Produced YBCO Conductors

Author

Greene, G.A. ; Gupta, R.C. ; Sampson, W.B. ; Snead, C.L., Jr.

Author_Institution

Brookhaven Nat. Lab., Upton, NY, USA

Volume

19

Issue

3

fYear

2009

fDate

6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3164

Lastpage

3167

Abstract

Samples of YBCO superconductor from two manufacturers were irradiated with protons at the BLIP facility at BNL. Two specimens of each type of conductor were irradiated to five fluences covering the range from 10¹⁶ to 4 times10¹⁷ protons/cm². The beam parameters for the irradiations were 42 muA and 142 MeV. The critical current (zero field, 1 muV/cm) for all twenty samples was measured in liquid nitrogen before and after irradiation to quantify the effects of high-dose proton-induced radiation damage on the performance of the conductor, and thus evaluate its suitability for service in high-radiation environments. All of the specimens had a pre-irradiation current of about 100 A. This current decreased linearly with fluence, with a slope of about 20% per 10¹⁷ protons/cm². The agreement between the two samples of each brand of conductor was exceptional.

Keywords

barium compounds; critical currents; high-temperature superconductors; proton effects; yttrium compounds; BLIP facility; YBCO superconductor; YBa₂Cu₃O_7-delta; beam parameters; critical current; electron volt energy 142 MeV; high-radiation environments; liquid nitrogen; proton irradiation effect; temperature 77 K; Critical current; YBCO conductor; radiation damage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2009.2017759

Filename

5067240