A. Kuhle et al., Measuring AC-loss in high temperature superconducting cable-conductors using four probe methods, IEEE APPL S, 9(2), 1999, pp. 1169-1172
Measuring the AC-loss of superconducting cable conductors have many aspects
in common with measuring the AC-loss of single superconducting tapes. In a
cable conductor all tapes are connected to each other and to the test circ
uit through normal metal joints in each end. This makes such measurements c
onsiderably more complex, especially for samples of laboratory scale (1-5 m
eters). Here we discuss different measurement configurations using four pro
be methods and lock-in detection. We conclude that the voltage should be pi
cked up at end of the connecting joints, and we show how the resistive cont
ribution from these joints can be identified and subtracted from the measur
ed data. We also show measurements which indicate that the size of the loop
constituted by the voltage leads has no influence on the measurements.