High-temperature superconductors (HTS) are the key technology to achieve super-high magnetic field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers with an operating frequency far beyond 1GHz (23.5T). (RE)BaCuO (REBCO, RE: rare earth) conductors have an advantage over BiSrCaCuO (Bi-2223) and BiSrCaCuO (Bi-2212) conductors in that they have very high tensile strengths and tolerate strong electromagnetic hoop stress, thereby having the potential to act as an ultra-compact super-high field NMR magnet. As a first step, we developed the world's first NMR magnet comprising an inner REBCO coil and outer low-temperature superconducting (LTS) coils. The magnet was successfully charged without degradation and mainly operated at 400MHz (9.39T). Technical problems for the NMR magnet due to screening current in the REBCO coil were clarified and solved as follows: (i) A remarkable temporal drift of the central magnetic field was suppressed by a current sweep reversal method utilizing ∼10% of the peak current. (ii) A Z2 field error harmonic of the main coil cannot be compensated by an outer correction coil and therefore an additional ferromagnetic shim was used. (iii) Large tesseral harmonics emerged that could not be corrected by cryoshim coils. Due to those harmonics, the resolution and sensitivity of NMR spectra are ten-fold lower than those for a conventional LTS NMR magnet. As a result, a HSQC spectrum could be achieved for a protein sample, while a NOESY spectrum could not be obtained. An ultra-compact 1.2GHz NMR magnet could be realized if we effectively take advantage of REBCO conductors, although this will require further research to suppress the effect of the screening current.

A superconducting joint technology used for high-temperature superconductors (HTS) is the key for enabling persistent operation of HTS magnets. In the present work, we have succeeded in developing a superconducting joint between REBCO-coated conductors (CCs) using a joint strap with a microcrystalline GdBCO precursor intermediate layer. Heat treatment and oxygen annealing, with a total processing time of less than 1 d, grows a biaxially-textured intermediate layer to connect the GdBCO layers in the CCs. Microstructure observation of a part of the joint cross-section with SEM and TEM showed that the intermediate layer and the GdBCO layers in the conductors were atomically connected. An electron backscatter diffraction result showed that both the c- and a-axis misorientations among the GdBCO layers of the joined conductor and the GdBCO layer of the joint strap were about less than 5°. This intermediate grown superconducting joint gives a critical current of >100 A at 77 K in a self-field. A critical current of a joint at 4.2 K in a self-field is seven times higher than that at 77 K. The persistent field decay of a small double pancake coil, terminated with this joint, showed a joint resistance in the range of <3 × 10−12 Ω to <5 × 10−13 Ω at 77 K in a self-field over three days, with an operating current of ∼10 A (∼14% of the calculated coil critical current). The results show a promising prospect of the joint to be used for persistent magnets such as NMR and MRI.

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This paper presents experimental results on a quench of an intra-layer no-insulation (LNI) (RE: rare earth)Ba2Cu3O7−δ (REBCO) coil in a 31.4 T central magnetic field and simulated results on the quench. We have been designing a persistent-mode 1.3 GHz (30.5 T) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnet with a layer-wound REBCO inner coil. Protection of the REBCO coil from quench is a significant issue and the coil employs the LNI method to obtain self-protecting characteristics. We conducted high-field generation and quench experiments on an LNI-REBCO coil connected to an insulated Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O x (Bi-2223) coil under a background magnetic field of 17.2 T as a model of the 1.3 GHz NMR magnet. The coils successfully generated a central magnetic field of 31.4 T. Although the LNI-REBCO coil quenched at 31.4 T, this quench did not cause any degradation to the coil. A numerical simulation showed the current distribution during the quench was non-uniform and changed rapidly over time due to current bypassing through copper sheets between layers, resulting in faster quench propagation than in an insulated REBCO coil. During the quench propagation, the peak temperature (T peak) and the peak hoop stress BzJR (σθ, peak) were calculated to be 330 K and 718 MPa, respectively. These are below critical values that cause degradation. The simulation also showed that the high electrical contact resistivity (ρ ct) of 10 000 µΩ cm2, between REBCO conductors and copper sheets in the LNI-REBCO coil winding, played an important role in protection. When ρ ct was as low as 70 µΩ cm2, the quench propagation became too fast and large additional currents were induced, resulting in an extremely high σθ, peak of 1398 MPa, while the T peak was as low as 75 K. In short, the high ρ ct in the present coil caused a high T peak, but succeeded in suppressing σθ, peak and protecting the coil from the quench.