A superconducting airborne mineral detection system

The concept, design, and construction of a superconducting geophysical exploration device which yields a ground conductivity map, has required the development of noval a.c. superconducting coils and non-metallic liquid helium cryostats. A.c. losses in the flight coils were predicted by testing small solenoids which had similar fields and current levels. Large electrically nonconducting cryostats were required to prevent electromagnetic coupling between the a.c. coils and the liquid helium cryostat. (author)