Bodenseher, A., Unterrainer, R. N., Shipulin, I. A., Hühne, R., & Eisterer, M. (2023, September 6). Change of superfluid density due to scattering caused by neutron induced defects [Conference Presentation]. 16th European Conference on Applied Superconductivity (EUCAS 2023), Bologna, Italy.
E141-06 - Forschungsbereich Low Temperature Physics and Superconductivity
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Date (published):
6-Sep-2023
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Event name:
16th European Conference on Applied Superconductivity (EUCAS 2023)
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Event date:
3-Sep-2023 - 7-Sep-2023
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Event place:
Bologna, Italy
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Keywords:
Superconductivity; nuclear fusion; neutron irradiation; high temperature superconductivity; universal scaling laws
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Abstract:
Nuclear fusion magnets for compact reactor designs are one of the most promising areas of application for high temperature superconductors. However, those superconducting magnets are exposed to a destructive flux of fast neutrons. It has been shown that the critical temperature decreases at high cumulative neutron fluence. One of the proposed explanations has been a suppression of the suprafluid density due to pair breaking defect scattering.
It has been empirically observed that the product of normal state conductivity and critical temperature is proportional to the superfluid density. This relation – known as Homes’ scaling – seems to hold for many conventional and unconventional superconductors. However, its validity and theoretical explanation are still under debate.
In order to examine the universality of Homes law, we deliberately changed the scattering rate of the charge carriers and consequently normal state conductivity of YBCO thin films by artificially introducing a model defect structure via neutron irradiation. This leads to a change in normal state conductivity, critical temperature and suprafluid as well as critical current density. All quantities were asessed with the same sample prior to and after irradiation to rule out sample to sample variations.
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Research facilities:
TRIGA Mark II-Nuklearreaktor
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Project title:
High-temperature superconducting materials for fusion magnets. The partner project is KKKÖ ME: 0000000000 (European Commission)