Flux pumping Flux pumping Flux pumping is a method for magnetising superconductors to fields in excess of 15 teslas. The method can be applied to any type II superconductor and exploits a fundamental property of superconductors. That is their ability to support and maintain currents on the length scale of the superconductor. Conventional magnetic materials are magnetised on a molecular scale which means that superconductors can maintain a flux density orders of magnitude bigger than conventional materials. Flux pumping is especially significant when one bears in mind that all other methods of magnetising superconductors require application of a magnetic flux density at
Flux tube density of the tube increase with the same proportionality. If a flux tube with a configuration of a magnetic field of B and a plasma density of ρ confined to the tube is compressed by a scalar value defined as λ, the new magnetic field and density are given by:formula_10formula_11If λ < 1, known as traverse compression, B and ρ increase and are scaled the same while transverse expansion decreases B and ρ by the same value and proportion where B/ρ = constant value. Extending the length of the flux tube by λ* gives a new length of L =