Levitation experiment using a high-temperature superconductor coil for a plasma confinement device

Levitation experiments using a high-temperature superconductor coil have be en carried out. A coil with a minor radius of 42 mm was fabricated with a B i-2223 tape conductor, and immersed in the liquid nitrogen. The coil curren t was induced by the field-cooling method up to the critical current value. The current decay of the coil can be accounted for by the flux flow resist ance and the normal resistance at the lap joint. The high-temperature super conductor coil can be levitated for 4 min or more within an accuracy of 25- 30 mum.