Developing a superconducting undulator withstanding high heat load

This proposal is submitted in response to the SBIR/STTR OFFICE OF BASIC ENERGY SCIENCES Topic 11(a), “Superconducting undulator with high heat-load limit, (a) Development of superconducting high heat- load undulator.” This topic seeks the development of superconducting undulator (SCU) which can be operated at higher temperature than 4.2 K with higher stability and 10x higher thermal load than previously utilized. MgB2 superconductor is a promising candidate for this. MgB2 has critical temperature of 39 K and it can be stable in 2-3 T on-conductor field range and can withstand more heat load than NbTi and Nb3Sn wires. Unlike REBCO-based high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials, MgB2 is amenable to being produced in wire form at reasonable cost. Hyper Tech has become the world leader in the manufacture of long lengths of high performance MgB2 wire. We are proposing to use our MgB2 superconductor wire on the undulators sought in this topic. This proposal is tailored directly to the above requirements. We will design and make prototypes of undulators using our 2nd generation MgB2 wire that will withstand more heat load and has much higher temperature margin and heat load than using NbTi or Nb3Sn superconductor wires. This program will demonstrate a 3-period planar undulator using intermediate- Tc radiation tolerant MgB2 conductor. The program has relevance to the development of improved insertion devices for synchrotron light sources. According to a U.S. EPA article, more than 97% of the 15,000 synchrotron accelerators in use around the world have light source applications. These light sources are used in the diagnosing and treating of cancer, the locating of oil and minerals in the earth, the processing of semiconductor chips for computers, the determination of the age of materials through radiocarbon dating, the sterilizing of medical equipment and food products