Flux trapping and shielding in irreversible superconductors

Movable Hall probes were used to measure fields near or inside Pb, Nb, Pb-B1, Nb-Sn, and Nb-Ti samples of various shapes. The trapping of transverse multiple magnetic fields in tubular samples was accomplished by cooling the samples in an applied field and then smoothly reducing the applied field to zero. Transverse quadrupole and sextupole fields with gradients of over 2000 G/cm were trapped with typical fidelity to the original impressed field of a few percent. Transverse dipole fields of up to 17 kG were also trapped with similar fidelity. Shielding experiments were carried out by cooling the samples in zero field and then gradually applying to external field. Flux trapping and shielding abilities were found to be limited by two factors, the pinning strength of the material, and the susceptibility of a sample to flux jumping. The trapping and shielding behavior of flat disk samples in axial fields and thin-walled tubular samples in transverse fields was modeled.