A theory of the strain-dependent critical field in Nb3Sn, based on anharmonic phonon generation

We propose a theory to explain the strain dependence of the critical properties in A15 superconductors. Starting from the strong-coupling formula for the critical temperature, and assuming that the strain sensitivity stems mostly from the electron-phonon alpha^2F function, we link the strain dependence of the critical properties to a widening of alpha^2F. This widening is attributed to the nonlinear generation of phonons, which takes place in the anharmonic deformation potential induced by the strain. Based on the theory of sum- and difference-frequency wave generation in nonlinear media, we obtain an explicit connection between the widening of alpha^2F and the anharmonic energy. The resulting model is fit to experimental datasets for Nb3Sn, and the anharmonic energy extracted from the fits is compared with first-principles calculations.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Determination of the electromechanical limits of high-performance Nb3_3Sn Rutherford cables under transverse stress from a single-wire experiment

The development of high-field accelerator magnets capable of providing 16 T dipolar fields is an indispensable technological breakthrough needed for the 100 TeV energy-frontier targeted by the Future Circular Collider (FCC). As these magnets will be based on Nb$_3$Sn Rutherford cables, the degradation of the conductor performance due to the large electro-magnetic stresses becomes a parameter with a profound impact on the magnet design. In this work, we investigated the stress dependence and the irreversible reduction of the critical current under compressive transverse load in high performance Powder-In-Tube (PIT) Nb$_3$Sn wires. Tests were performed in magnetic fields ranging between 16 T and 19 T on wires that were resin-impregnated similarly to the wires in the Rutherford cables of accelerator magnets. The scope was to predict the degradation of the cable under stress from a single-wire experiment. Interestingly, the irreversible stress limit, $\sigma_{irr}$, defined as the stress level corresponding to a permanent reduction of the critical current by 5$\%$ with respect to its initial value, was found to depend on the applied magnetic field. This observation allowed us to shed light on the mechanism dominating the irreversible reduction of the wire performance and to compare and reconcile our results with the irreversible limits measured on Rutherford cables, typically tested at fields below 12 T.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Towards a muon collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work

Towards a Muon Collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.Comment: 118 pages, 103 figure

Towards a muon collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work

Erratum: Towards a muon collider

The original online version of this article was revised: The additional reference [139] has been added. Tao Han’s ORICD ID has been incorrectly assigned to Chengcheng Han and Chengcheng Han’s ORCID ID to Tao Han. Yang Ma’s ORCID ID has been incorrectly assigned to Lianliang Ma, and Lianliang Ma’s ORCID ID to Yang Ma. The original article has been corrected

Thermo-magnetic instabilities in Nb3Sn superconducting accelerator magnets

The advance of High Energy Physics research using circulating accelerators strongly depends on increasing the magnetic bending field which accelerator magnets provide. To achieve high fields, the most powerful present-day accelerator magnets employ NbTi superconducting technology; however, with the start up of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2007, NbTi magnets will have reached the maximum field allowed by the intrinsic properties of this superconductor. A further increase of the field strength necessarily requires a change in superconductor material; the best candidate is Nb{sub 3}Sn. Several laboratories in the US and Europe are currently working on developing Nb{sub 3}Sn accelerator magnets, and although these magnets have great potential, it is suspected that their performance may be fundamentally limited by conductor thermo-magnetic instabilities: an idea first proposed by the Fermilab High Field Magnet group early in 2003. This thesis presents a study of thermo-magnetic instability in high field Nb{sub 3}Sn accelerator magnets. In this chapter the following topics are described: the role of superconducting magnets in High Energy Physics; the main characteristics of superconductors for accelerator magnets; typical measurements of current capability in superconducting strands; the properties of Nb{sub 3}Sn; a description of the manufacturing process of Nb{sub 3}Sn strands; superconducting cables; a typical layout of superconducting accelerator magnets; the current state of the art of Nb{sub 3}Sn accelerator magnets; the High Field Magnet program at Fermilab; and the scope of the thesis

Specifications for conductors and proposed conductor configurations: Milestone M5.3

This document summarises the specifications of a superconductor suitable to be used in a particle accelerator dipole magnet that can reach a field of 16 Tesla during regular operation. The document reports also on the conductor configuration. These specifications set the performance targets for industrial production requirements at large scale. The document motivates the specifications on one hand by taking a particular magnet baseline design as starting point and by considering the results of various conductor test campaigns carried out at partner institutes

Computation of the Reversible Critical Current Degradation in Nb 3_{3}Sn Rutherford Cables for Particle Accelerator Magnets

Superconducting coils limit current is usually measured on unloaded short samples of strands extracted from the same cable used to wound the coil. However, the critical current density of Nb$_{3}$Sn strands is strongly dependent on the applied strain. This dependence is well reproduced by the so-called exponential scaling laws on strands subject to uniaxial loading. Unfortunately, no standard procedure exists to apply these laws under the complex stress condition experienced by the strands inside Rutherford cables for particle accelerator magnets. As a consequence, an empirical limit from magnet tests was set in the past: 150–200 MPa of maximum equivalent stress within the coil, considered as a block of uniform material. It is not clear how this number relates with the actual stress/strain state in the strands and if it is possible in magnet applications to infer the coil degradation from single strands tests. In this context, this paper presents a model to estimate the critical current degradation of superconducting coils as a function of the applied strain. The model results were compared against the critical current degradation measured on impregnated cable stacks subject to transverse pressure