Identification of magnet and superconductor contributions to the ac loss in a magnet-superconductor levitation system

By measuring the quality factor of the mechanical oscillator with an attached magnet we investigated the amplitude dependence of the energy loss in a permanent magnet-YBCO superconductor system. When a non-conducting ferrite magnet is used the energy loss is proportional to the amplitude to the 2.79 power. This value is close to the value of 3 expected for the hysteretic motion of flux lines from the Bean model. When a conducting magnet is used the exponent decreased to the value of similar to 2.5. This reflects the contribution of eddy current dissipation in a conducting magnet to the overall loss. We identified a novel mechanism of ac loss in the magnet-superconductor system. According to this mechanism the eddy current in a magnet is induced by the ac field generated by the ac supercurrent in response to the motion of a magnet. This mechanism would take place in a rotary bearing if circumferential inhomogeneity of the rotor magnetization occurred. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.