Measurement of the transport current distribution in a superconducting tape

A non-destructive measurement method was applied to evaluate transport current distribution across the width of a superconducting tape. The self-magnetic field over the tape was mapped at a small distance from it. This provided input data for an inverse calculation process through which the current distribution was evaluated. The procedure was used to determine the dynamics of the distribution of AC current in a WIT BSCCO 2223 tape at a zero external magnetic field. A different behaviour was observed for the unsaturated and saturated regimes. The critical current distribution was also determined for transport current I=I-c. The measurement on the WIT BSCCO 2223 tape showed that at the critical current, the current capacity in the central section was higher than that at the edges. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.