We have experimentally studied the magnetic shielding properties of a cylindrical shell of BiPbSrCaCuO subjected to low frequency AC axial magnetic fields. The magnetic response has been investigated as a function of the dimensions of the tube, the magnitude of the applied field and the frequency. These results are explained quantitatively by employing the method of Brandt (1998 Phys. Rev. B 58 6506) with a Jc(B) law appropriate for a polycrystalline material. Specifically, we observe that the applied field can sweep into the central region either through the thickness of the shield or through the opening ends, the latter mechanism being suppressed for long tubes. For the first time, we systematically detail the spatial variation of the shielding factor (the ratio of the applied field over the internal magnetic field) along the axis of a high-temperature superconducting tube. The shielding factor is shown to be constant in a region around the centre of the tube, and to decrease as an exponential in the vicinity of the ends. This spatial dependence comes from the competition between two mechanisms of field penetration. The frequency dependence of the shielding factor is also discussed and shown to follow a power law arising from the finite creep exponent n.

Magnetic shielding efficiency was measured on high-T c superconducting hollow cylinders subjected to either an axial or a transverse magnetic field in a large range of field sweep rates, dB app /dt. The behaviour of the superconductor was modelled in order to reproduce the main features of the field penetration curves by using a minimum number of free parameters suitable for both magnetic field orientations. The field penetration measurements were carried out on Pb-doped Bi-2223 tubes at 77 K by applying linearly increasing magnetic fields with a constant sweep rate ranging between 10 µT/s and 10 mT/s for both directions of the applied magnetic field. The experimental curves of the internal field vs. the applied field, B in (B app), show that, at a given sweep rate, the magnetic field for which the penetration occurs, B lim , is lower for the transverse configuration than for the axial configuration. A power law dependence with large exponent, n', is found between B lim and dB app /dt. The values of n' are nearly the same for both configurations. We show that the main features of the curves B in (B app) can be reproduced using a simple 2-D model based on the method of Brandt involving a E(J) power law with an n-exponent and a field-dependent critical current density, J c (B), (following the Kim model: J c = J c0 (1+B/B 1)-1). In particular, a linear relationship between the measured n'-exponents and the nexponent of the E(J) power law is suggested by taking into account the field dependence of the critical current density. Differences between the axial and the transverse shielding properties can be simply attributed to demagnetizing fields.

We show that tubes of melt cast Bi-2212 used as current leads for LTS magnets can also act as efficient magnetic shields. The magnetic screening properties under an axial DC magnetic field are characterized at several temperatures below the liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K). Two main shielding properties are studied and compared with those of Bi-2223, a material that has been considered in the past for bulk magnetic shields. The first property is related to the maximum magnetic flux density that can be screened, B lim ; it is defined as the applied magnetic flux density below which the field attenuation measured at the centre of the shield exceeds 1000. For a cylinder of Bi-2212 with a wall thickness of 5 mm and a large ratio of length over radius, B lim is evaluated to 1 T at T = 10 K. This value largely exceeds the B lim value measured at the same temperature on similar tubes of Bi-2223. The second shielding property that is characterized is the dependence of B lim with respect to variations of the sweep rate of the applied field, dB app /dt. This dependence is interpreted in terms of the power law E = E c (J/J c ) n and allows us to determine the exponent n of this E(J) characteristics for Bi-2212. The characterization of the magnetic field relaxation involves very small values of the electric field. This gives us the opportunity to experimentally determine the E(J) law in an unexplored region of small electric fields. Combining these results with transport and AC shielding measurements, we construct a piecewise E(J) law that spans over 8 orders of magnitude of the electric field.

Using the numerical method of Brandt (1998 Phys. Rev. B 58 6506), we study the penetration of a uniform magnetic field that is gradually applied parallel to the axis of finite type-II superconducting tubular samples with strong pinning. This study is carried out in view of designing low-frequency magnetic shields by exploiting the diamagnetic properties of type-II superconductors. First, we compare the field penetration into open and closed tubes. For long tubes (length larger than three times the outer diameter), we show that a cap weakly affects the maximum magnetic induction that can be shielded, but greatly increases the region over which the field is nearly uniform. When the length of the tube is shorter, both the maximum shieldable magnetic induction and the uniformity of the field attenuation are enhanced by closing the tube. We also show that making a hole in the cap, which is often necessary for applications, does not greatly affect the shielding properties provided the diameter of the hole is small compared to that of the tube (hole diameter smaller than a quarter of the outer tube diameter). In view of designing large size magnetic shields, superconducting tubes of finite size need to be joined together. We therefore examine in a second part how the presence of a non-superconducting joint between the tubes affects the shielding efficiency. It is shown that the effect of a joint depends upon its position along the tube axis and strongly increases with its size. Third, we study how non-uniform superconducting properties affect the shielding capabilities.

This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation of the performance of two types of magnetic screens assembled from YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−␦ ͑YBCO͒ coated conductors. Since effective screening of the axial dc magnetic field requires the unimpeded flow of an azimuthal persistent current, we demonstrate a configuration of a screening shell made out of standard YBCO coated conductor capable to accomplish that. The screen allows the persistent current to flow in the predominantly azimuthal direction at a temperature of 77 K. The persistent screen, incorporating a single layer of superconducting film, can attenuate an external magnetic field of up to 5 mT by more than an order of magnitude. For comparison purposes, another type of screen which incorporates low critical temperature quasipersistent joints was also built. The shielding technique we describe here appears to be especially promising for the realization of large scale high-T c superconducting screens.