The Effect of Flux Creep on the Magnetization Field in the SSC Dipole Magnets

Abstract

The sextupole fields of model SSC dipole magnets have been observed to change with time when the magnets are held at constant current under conditions similar to injection into the SSC accelerator. The changes in the sextupole component have close to a linear log time dependence, and is felt to be caused by flux creep decay of the magnetization currents in the superconductor filaments. Measurements of this decay have been made under various conditions. The conditions include various central field inductions and changes of field prior to when the decay was measured. The measured field decay in the dipole’s sextupole is proportional to the magnitude and sign of the sextupole due to magnetization which was measured at the start of the decay. This suggests that the decay is a bulk superconductivity flux creep. Proximity coupling appears to play only a minor role in the flux creep according to recent LBL measurements with a stable power supply.

This work is supported by the Office of Energy Research, Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics, High Energy Physics Division, Dept. of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC03–76SF00098.