Stabilization of superconductors for use in magnets

There are two main causes of degraded performance in superconducting magnets, magnetic instability or flux jumping and mechanical instability. Cryostatically stabilized conductors are able to cope with both kinds of instability but finely subdivided conductors are only stable against flux jumping. It is suggested that the inclusion of a small proportion of helium in the magnet windings could provide sufficient transient stability to enable finely subdivided conductors to work well in the presence of mechanical instabilities.