• F. Hunte, J. Schwartz, H. Song
  NHMFL, Tallahassee, Florida
• R.P. Johnson, M. Turenne
  Muons, Inc, Batavia

Magnetic confinement fusion reactors (tokamaks) require the development of magnets capable of generating large fields under stringent structural constraints. High temperature superconducting magnets which are well suited to this application are however vulnerable to quench occurrence during operation. Temperature and strain sensors based on fiber optics are being developed as a countermeasure to this contingency. Optical fibers with Bragg gratings are amenable to embedding within superconducting magnets to monitor temperature, strain, irradiation, and to detect quench occurrence. In a length of YBCO tape where quench propagation velocities are slow, we show that it is possible to detect the event occurrence using fiber optic sensors even with a sampling rate as low as 1 Hz. This preliminary result demonstrates the feasibility of using fiber optic sensors to monitor the temperature and strain condition along the length within a coil. These sensors could be used to provide feedback to or trigger magnet protection systems. This would be an invaluable method for mitigating damage to superconducting magnets and increasing up-time for reactors.