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R. Fuger, M. Eisterer, F. Hengstberger, H. W. Weber:
"Influence of neutron irradiation on high temperature superconducting coated conductors";
Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications, 468 (2008), 1647 - 1651.

High temperature superconductors (HTS) might be applied for the magnets in a next step fusion device. The magnets could operate in the temperature range of liquid nitrogen of slightly below. Apart from the special requirements on the mechanical properties, the conductors will be exposed to radiation. We examine the influence of neutron irradiation on coated conductors. These conductors were irradiated sequentially to the ITER specification of 10²² m^-2. The samples were examined by magnetisation measurements and by direct transport measurements with regard to changes in their superconducting parameters. The critical current, its anisotropy and the irreversibility line were determined under different conditions. The magnetisation measurements were carried out in a vector vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM) in a wide temperature range with a maximum field of 5T. The transport measurements were carried out in fields up to 15T. An increase of the critical current for fields parallel to the c-axis is observed in the high field region. A crossover of the critical current between the unirradiated and the irradiated state is found at lower fields. Also a peak in Ι_c (shoulder effects) can be observed in anisotropy measurements at small angles (close to the ab-plane) in highly irradiated samples.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physc.2008.05.163

http://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/PubDat_167403.pdf