Flux mapping at 77 K and local measurement at lower temperature of thin-wall YBaCuO single-domain samples oxygenated under high pressure

YBCO single-domain samples are suitable for the production of high trapped fields in the range 20–77 K using a cryocooler or liquid nitrogen. But the oxygenation process required to actually transform the single domains into superconductors induces an extensive crack network that is limiting the material performances. Thin-wall geometry has been introduced to reduce the diffusion paths and to enable a progressive oxygenation strategy. As a consequence cracks are drastically reduced. In addition the use of a high oxygen pressure (16 MPa) speeds up further the process by displacing the oxygen–temperature equilibrium towards the higher temperature of the phase diagram. The advantage of thin-wall geometry is that such an annealing can be applied directly to a much larger sample. Remarkable results are obtained without any doping by the combination of thin walls and oxygen high pressure. While classical plain samples yield 300–400 mT, a trapped field of 840 mT has been measured at 77 K on a 16 mm diameter Y123 thin-wall single-domain sample with an annealing time as short as 3 days. Local measurements with a fixed Hall probe on top of the sample were performed at lower temperature after magnetization either in a static field or in a pulse field. The trapped field is significantly higher at lower temperature. Cryocoolers become the key to compromise between performances and cryogenic cost around 40 K.