Effect of proton irradiation on the critical current and critical temperature of Bi-2212 wires

HTS superconductors are being investigated for potential applications in particle accelerators in high field magnets operating at 4 K. When such magnets are also in a highradiation environment, the effects of radiation on the superconductor need to be evaluated. In this paper we report on the performance of Bi-2212 superconductor irradiated with highenergy protons. 7 cm long samples of 0.8 mm diameter wire were irradiated at room temperatures in the BLIP facility at BNL to five fluence levels, covering the range from 1016 to 4×1017 protons/cm2. The beam parameters for the irradiations were 42 μA and 142 MeV. After irradiation the critical current at 4.2 K was measured in fields of 0 to 8 T to quantify the effects of high-dose proton-induced radiation damage on the performance of the conductor. Wires typically had a pre-irradiation current of about 480-500 A at 0 T and 210-220 A at 5 T. The critical current is observed to be relatively unchanged for proton fluence up to 1017 protons/cm2, and decreases line...