The development of large-bore, high-field magnets for fusion energy applications requires a system approach to both magnet and conductor design. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the criteria used to choose superconductors include: strain tolerance, radiation tolerance, heat removal, stability, fabricability, and cost. We report on the performance of industrially produced, prototype, Ti-modified Nb/sub 3/Sn wires developed with LLNL support. Wire performance characteristics evaluated include critical current as a function of magnetic field, temperature, and applied strain. Tests were performed to determine how this performance translates to the performance of a cable-in-conduit conductor system using this wire. An alternative to Nb/sub 3/Sn superconductors is NbN, which is strain and radiation insensitive. We report preliminary efforts to produce multifilamentary NbN conductors by liquid-metal infiltration of NbN-coated, high-strength fibers. In addition, we discuss the fabrication of multifilamentary NbN conductors and their possible impact on magnet design.

We consider in detail the effects of local mass anomalies in Eoetvoes-like experiments. It is shown that in the presence of an intermediate-range non-gravitational force, the dominant contributions to both the sign and magnitude of the Eoetvoes anomaly may come from nearby masses and not from the earth as a whole. This observation has important implications in the design and interpretation of future experiments, and in the formulation of unified theories incorporating new intermediate-range forces.

An overview is presented of the LLNL High-Field Superconducting Magnet Development Program wherein the technology is being developed for producing fields in the range of 15 T and higher for both mirror and tokamak applications. Applications requiring less field will also benefit from this program. In addition, recent results on the thermomechanical performance of cable-in-conduit conductor systems are presented and their importance to high-field coil design discussed.

Grazing incidence mirrors used to focus synchrotron radiation beams through small distant apertures have severe optical requirements. The surface distortion due to heat loading of the first mirror in a bending magnet beam line is of particular concern when a large fraction of the incident beam is absorbed. In this paper we discuss mirror design considerations involved in minimizing the thermal/mechanical loading on vertically deflecting first surface mirrors required for SPEAR synchrotron radiation beam lines. Topics include selection of mirror material and cooling method, the choice of SiC for the substrate, optimization of the thickness, and the design of the mirror holder and cooling mechanism. Results obtained using two-dimensional, finite-element thermal/mechanical distortion analysis are presented for the case of a 6/sup 0/ grazing incidence SiC mirror absorbing up to 260 W at Beam Line VIII on the SPEAR ring. Test descriptions and results are given for the material used to thermally couple this SiC mirror to a water-cooled block. The interface material is limited to applications for which the equivalent normal heat load is less than 20 W/cm/sup 2/.