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At least 19 records

Cabling method of superconducting flat wires

A structure and method provide cables of high-temperature superconducting flat tape and/or filament wires, with a small bending diameter. A cable has a former having cross section that includes a rectangle having rounded ends (i.e. an obround), and the flat tape is wound around the surface of the former at an angle to minimize bending. The former surface may have raised helical ribs or lowered grooves to provide tape registration in multi-layer configurations. Tape may be wound from a spool onto the former under tension, and cut with a laser cutter to produce fine filaments immediately before winding. The former may be slit longitudinally to prevent loop eddy currents and reduce AC losses. The wound cable may be jacketed to provide a cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC), and coolant channels may be provided in the jacket or in the former.

Takayasu, Makoto↗

An Analysis Method for Superconducting Resonator Parameter Extraction with Complex Baseline Removal

A new semi-empirical model is proposed for extracting the quality (Q) factors of arrays of superconducting microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). The determination of the total internal and coupling Q factors enables the computation of the loss in the superconducting transmission lines. The method used allows the simultaneous analysis of multiple interacting discrete resonators with the presence of a complex spectral baseline arising from reflections in the system. The baseline removal allows an unbiased estimate of the device response as measured in a cryogenic instrumentation setting.

semi-empirical model↗

Acoustic diagnostic system and method for superconducting devices operating in gas or liquid

A novel system and method for detecting a quench of a superconducting conductor and detecting abnormal behavior of a superconducting conductor using acoustic sensor technology in the coolant of a superconducting cable and/or magnet is disclosed. This system and method is not only limited to use for superconductors, but also may be used for any device disposed in liquid and gas. Acoustic sensors are installed along a coolant space of a superconducting conductor and monitor coolant conditions. By monitoring acoustic changes, temperature changes or coolant flow disruption can be detected very quickly by an acoustic sensor array. By disposition of the acoustic sensor array in a coolant flow channel, the acoustic sensor system can quickly detect a local condition, such as the thermal status (temperature) of a superconducting cable and magnet with precise spatial resolution.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Systems and methods for superconducting quantum refrigeration

A heat transfer device and method are disclosed. The device includes a working region (i.e., working substance) made from a first superconducting material having a superconducting state and a normal state when magnetized. The first superconducting material has a first energy gap while in the superconducting state. A substrate (i.e., cold reservoir) is connected to the working region at a first tunnel junction. The substrate may be a metallic substrate. A heat sink (i.e., hot reservoir) is connected to the working region at a second tunnel junction. The heat sink is made from a second superconducting material having a second energy gap that is larger than the first energy gap. In a particular example, the heat transfer device includes a metallic substrate is made from Copper, a working region made from Tantalum, a heat sink made from Niobium, and the first and second tunnel junctions are made from Tantalum Oxide.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Opportunities and Challenges of Computational Electromagnetics Methods for Superconducting Circuit Quantum Device Modeling: A Practical Review

High-fidelity numerical methods that model the physical layout of a device are essential for the design of many technologies. For methods that characterize electromagnetic effects, these numerical methods are referred to as computational electromagnetics (CEM) methods. Although the CEM research field is mature, emerging applications can still stress the capabilities of the techniques in use today. The design of superconducting circuit quantum devices falls in this category due to the unconventional material properties and important features of the devices covering nanometer to centimeter scales. Such multiscale devices can stress the fundamental properties of CEM tools which can lead to an increase in simulation times, a loss in accuracy, or even cause no solution to be reliably found. While these challenges are being investigated by CEM researchers, knowledge about them is limited in the broader community of users of these CEM tools. This review is meant to serve as a practical introduction to the fundamental aspects of the major CEM techniques that a researcher may need to choose between to model a device, as well as provide insight into what steps they may take to alleviate some of their challenges. Our focus is on highlighting the main concepts without rigorously deriving all the details, which can be found in many textbooks and articles. After covering the fundamentals, we discuss more advanced topics related to the challenges of modeling multiscale devices with specific examples from superconducting circuit quantum devices. We conclude with a discussion on future research directions that will be valuable for improving the ability to successfully design increasingly more sophisticated superconducting circuit quantum devices. Although our focus and examples are taken from this area, researchers from other fields will still benefit from the details discussed here.

Elkin, Samuel T. [Virginia Tech., Blacksburg]↗

Novel Magnetron Operation and Control Methods for Superconducting RF Accelerators

High power magnetrons designed and optimized for industrial heating, being injection-locked, have been suggested to power superconducting RF cavities for accelerators due to lower cost and higher efficiency. However, standard operation methods do not provide high efficiency with wideband control suppressing microphonics. We have developed and experimentally verified novel methods of operating and controlling the magnetron that provide stable RF generation with higher efficiency and lower noise than other RF sources. By our method the magnetrons operate with the anode voltage notably lower than the self-excitation threshold improving its performance. This is also a promising way to increase tube reliability and longevity. A magnetron operating with the anode voltage lower than the self-excitation threshold, in so-called stimulated coherent generation mode has special advantage for pulse operation with a gated injection-locking signal. This eliminates the need for expensive pulsed HV modulators and additionally increases the magnetron RF source efficiency due to absence of losses in HV modulators.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Exploration of signal processing methods for superconducting magnet and quench data

Quenching is the phenomenon of a superconducting magnetic material carrying current transitioning into a regular conducting material. This may cause severe and irreparable damage to the superconductor due to Joule heating. The Magnet Department at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) has acquired experimental data through quench antenna arrays that are recorded when the quench is detected. These data are in terms of voltage signals that are sampled at 100kHz for several minutes. There are multiple channels and each channel provides a data set of more than 20 million observations, while there is one channel, called the trigger channel which shows the time when quench is detected. Despite some advancements that were made including machine learning, data complexity still shadows the progress. In this work, we studied a multi-resolution analysis of the quench antenna data through the Haar wavelet transform. In particular, we applied the maximally overlapped discrete w avelet transform (MODWT) of a suitable level L to the given data and then projected it onto the wavelet basis. This decomposes a given signal (Original data) $x ϵ \mathbb{R}^N$ into $L + 1$ subspaces of $\mathbb{R}^N$. One of the subspaces called the approximation, captures the trend of the signal, and the others, called the details, capture the fluctuations at different frequency bands. This decomposition provides a clear trend of the data at a suitable level and also various activities (spikes) are seen in the details of the decomposition at every level. These spikes might reveal some information about the quench under investigation but in any case, give information about magnet behavior. Also, this decomposition is seen to be very useful in removing noise present in the data due to the source or mechanism of the experiment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Methods for treating superconducting cavities

A system and method for treating a cavity comprises arranging a niobium structure in a coating chamber, the coating chamber being arranged inside a furnace, coating the niobium structure with tin thereby forming an Nb 3 Sn layer on the niobium structure, and doping the Nb 3 Sn layer with nitrogen, thereby forming a nitrogen doped Nb 3 Sn layer on the niobium structure.

Posen, Sam↗

High temperature superconducting magnet

Systems and methods for superconducting magnets are disclosed, such systems and methods comprising a primary coil and short-circuited secondary coil. The secondary coil can be made from a stack of superconducting tapes having longitudinal cuts forming closed superconductor loops without splices. The primary coil is used to pump the current into the secondary coil where it circulates continuously generating a permanent magnetic field.

Kashikhin, Vladimir↗

Method Producing an SNS Superconducting Junction with Weak Link Barrier

A method of producing a high temperature superconductor Josephson element and an improved SNS weak link barrier element is provided. A YBaCuO superconducting electrode film is deposited on a substrate at a temperature of approximately 800 C. A weak link barrier layer of a nonsuperconducting film of N-YBaCuO is deposited over the electrode at a temperature range of 520 C. to 540 C. at a lower deposition rate. Subsequently a superconducting counter-electrode film layer of YBaCuO is deposited over the weak link barrier layer at approximately 800 C. The weak link barrier layer has a thickness of approximately 50 A and the SNS element can be constructed to provide an edge geometry junction.

Hunt, Brian D.↗

Method for fabricating superconducting devices using a focused ion beam

Nano-scale junctions, wires, and junction arrays are created by using a focused high-energy ion beam to direct-write insulating or poorly conducting barriers into thin films of materials that are sensitive to disorder, including superconductors, ferromagnetic materials and semiconductors.

Cybart, Shane A.↗

Germanium coated microbridge and method

A superconducting microbridge is provided for use in superconducting quantum interference devices wherein a pair of spaced layers of superconductive material are connected by a weak link bridge to establish an electrical junction. The superconductive layers and bridge are coated with a semiconductor material shunting the bridge at room temperatures to prevent the destruction of the device by minute electrical currents while the coating acts as a dielectric permitting normal electrical behavior of the microbridge at cryogenic temperatures.

Holderman, L. B.↗

Method for producing edge geometry superconducting tunnel junctions utilizing an NbN/MgO/NbN thin film structure

A method for fabricating an edge geometry superconducting tunnel junction device is discussed. The device is comprised of two niobium nitride superconducting electrodes and a magnesium oxide tunnel barrier sandwiched between the two electrodes. The NbN electrodes are preferably sputter-deposited, with the first NbN electrode deposited on an insulating substrate maintained at about 250 C to 500 C for improved quality of the electrode.

Hunt, Brian D.↗

Superconducting magnet and fabrication method

A method of trapping a field in a block of superconductor material, includes providing (i) a block of material defining a bore, (ii) a high permeability core within the bore that defines a low reluctance path through the bore, (iii) a high permeability external structure on the exterior of the block of material that defines a low reluctance path between opposite ends of the core, and (iv) an electromagnet configured to apply a magnetic field around the high permeability core. The method proceeds by energizing the electromagnet to produce an applied magnetic field around the high permeability core, cooling the block of material sufficiently to render the block of material superconducting, de-energizing the electromagnet to result in a trapped magnetic field, and at least partially removing the low reluctance path defined by the core and the external structure in order to increase the magnetic flux density of the trapped magnetic field.

Israelsson, Ulf E.↗