Switching behavior of a magnetically controlled superconducting switch

The authors describe experimental and theoretical considerations on the switching behavior of a magnetically controlled superconducting switch. The experimental superconducting switch used in the experiments is composed of a superconducting gate wire (NbZr/CuNi) and a superconducting field coil (NbTi/CuNi). In the experimental circuit the switch is connected to a load resistor and a constant current source in parallel. The experimental results show that during the switching process, where the field current increases and decreases, the gate wire has two resistive states. In one state, the gate current, is determined by the field current. In the other state, the gate wire may be in the `flux-flow´ state