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Quantized values of magnetic flux trapped in a superconducting loop enabling a new type of passive shifting elements which could be incorporated into digital Josephson circuits making their design compact is reported.

Within the framework of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) R&D programme, CERN is performing experiments to establish the current carrying capability of irradiated diodes at liquid Helium temperatures for the superconducting magnet protection. Even if the diodes are degraded by radiation dose and neutron fluence, they must be able to support the by-pass current during a magnet quench and the de-excitation of the superconducting magnet ring. During this discharge, the current in the diode reaches a maximum value up to 13 kA and decreases with an exponential time constant of 100s. Two sets of 75 mm wafer diameter epitaxial diodes, one irradiated and one non-irradiated, were submitted to this experiment. The irradiated diodes have been exposed to radiation In the accelerator environment up to 20 kGy and then annealed at room temperature. After the radiation exposure the diodes had shown a degradation of forward voltage of 50 % which reduced to about 14 % after the thermal annealing. During the long duration high current tests, one of the diodes was destroyed and the other two irradiated diodes showed a different behaviour compared with non-irradiated diodes.

Tests have been carried out on a string of prototype superconducting magnets, consisting of one double-quadrupole and two double-dipoles forming the major part of a half-cell of the LHC machine. The magnets are protected individually by 'cold diodes' and quench heaters. The electrical aspects of these tests are described here. The performance during quench of the protection diodes and the associated interconnections was studied. Tests determined the magnet quench performance in training and at different ramp-rates, and investigated the inter-magnet propagation of quenches. Current lead and inter-magnet contact resistances were controlled and the performance of the power converter and the dump switches assessed.

In the framework of the LHC project at CERN, the effects of radiation on the electrical characteristics of epitaxial diodes for superconducting magnet protection were studied. The diodes were exposed to an irradiation dose up to 50 kGy and a neutron fluence of [10.sup.15] n/[cm.sup.2] with intermediate thermal annealing each 10 kGy dose steps in the [TUM.sup.*] reactor at 4.6 K.

The quench protection system for the superconducting magnets of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is described. The system is based on the so called 'cold diode' concept. In a group of series connected magnets if one magnet quenches then the magnetic energy of all the magnets will be dissipated in the quenched magnet so destroying it. This is avoided by by-passing the quenched magnet and then rapidly de-exciting the unquenched magnets. For the LHC machine it is foreseen to use silicon diodes situated inside the cryostat as by-pass elements - so called 'cold diodes'. The diodes are exposed to some 50 kGray of radiation during a 10 year operation life-time. The high energy density of the LHC magnets (500 kJ/m) coupled with the relatively slow propagation speed of a 'natural' quench (10 to 20 m/s) can lead to excessive heating of the zone where the quench started and to high internal voltages. It is therefore necessary to detect quickly the incipient quench and fire strip heaters which spread the quench out more quickly over a large volume of the magnet. After a quench the magnet chain must be de-excited rapidly to avoid spreading the quench to other magnets and over-heating the by-pass diode. This is done by switching high-power energy-dump resistors in series with the magnets. The LHC main ring magnet will be divided into 16 electrically separated units which has important advantages.

We have investigated the dependence of the critical current I[sub C] on the value and orientation of an externally applied magnetic field H for interface-engineered YBa[sub 2]Cu[sub 3]O[sub 7-x] ramp-type Josephson junctions. The results are compared with measurements of Nb ramp-type junctions with a PdAu interlayer. The I[sub C] versus H dependences are similar to Fraunhofer patterns and their modulation period changes several orders of magnitude with the orientation of the magnetic field. For both junction types, the dependence of the modulation period on the orientation of the magnetic field can be well described by the change of the relevant projection of the junction area and the influence of flux-focusing. Therefore the features of the I[sub C](H) curves have to be attributed to the ramp geometry and not to specific properties of the superconducting material. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]