An AC susceptometer for the characterization of large, bulk superconducting samples

Abstract

The main purpose of this work was to design, develop and construct a simple, low-cost AC susceptometer to measure large, bulk superconducting samples (up to 32 mm in diameter) in the temperature range 78-120 K. The design incorporates a double heating system that enables a high heating rate (25 K/hour) while maintaining a small temperature gradient (< 0.2 K) across the sample. The apparatus can be calibrated precisely using a copper coil connected in series with the primary coil. The system has been used successfully to measure the temperature dependence of the AC magnetic properties of entire RE-Ba-Cu-O [(RE)BCO] bulk superconducting domains. A typical AC susceptibility measurement run from 78 K to 95 K takes about 2 hours, with excellent temperature resolution (temperature step ~ 4 mK) around the critical temperature, in particular.

arXiv comment25 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Measurement Science and Technology

References in corpus (3)

• Superconductors in realistic geometries: Geometric edge barrier versus pinning
• AC magnetic behavior of large grain magneto-resistive La0.78Ca0.22Mn0.90Ox materials
• Analysis of Experimental Conditions for Simultaneous Measurements of Transport and Magnetotransport Coefficients of High Temperature Superconductors

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