Analysis of magnetization induced error field in superconducting magnets

Abstract

The field error due to magnetization of superconductors in a superconducting magnet can significantly compromise the field homogeneity which is extremely important for NMR magnets. This is especially true for high Tc superconducting magnets. In this paper, the error field induced by the magnetization of superconducting wires or tapes is analyzed using a magnetic dipole field model. It uses experimentally measured magnetization of superconducting wires, and eludes the need of assuming screening current and its distribution as in previous methods. The field error of a REBCO coil calculated by this model and by a screening current model shows complete agreement. A few cases of field error distribution along the coil axis are calculated. The results are in qualitative agreement with experiments in the literature. This model would be particularly useful for magnets wound by multifilamentary wires or tapes where the filament sizes vary and filament bridging may occur hence screening current distribution is unknown. This model can also be used as a base for numerical calculations of the field error of a large practical magnet.