Theoretical development of the image method for a general magnetic source in the presence of a superconducting sphere or a long superconducting cylinder

Qiong-Gui Lin

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.74.024510

← Back to search

Theoretical development of the image method for a general magnetic source in the presence of a superconducting sphere or a long superconducting cylinder

Qiong-Gui Lin

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.74.024510 · Physical Review B

T1

Active bibliographic source — not scientific approval

Bibliographic access preserves source history; it does not approve extracted materials or validate reported claims. Review warnings on each occurrence separately.

Abstract

For macroscopic problems where the London penetration depth is negligibly small (ideal Meissner state), the image method is developed for a magnetic monopole in the presence of a superconducting sphere (the image is not a single monopole). Then the field for any magnetic source can be obtained by superposition. A magnetic point dipole with arbitrary direction is studied in detail. We also develop the image method for a steady electric current in the presence of the superconducting sphere. Similar problems for a long superconducting cylinder are solved by the same method but the results are rather different. The case of an arbitrary steady electric current in the presence of an infinite superconducting plane is also solved by the image method. In this method the calculation of levitation forces is convenient and the physical picture is simple. The method is also extended to more complicated geometries involving both spherical (or cylindrical) and planar superconducting boundaries.