Cryogenic-temperature profiling of high-power superconducting lines using local and distributed optical-fiber sensors

This contribution presents distributed and multi-point fiber-optic monitoring of cryogenic temperatures along a superconducting power transmission line down to 30 K and over 20 m distance. Multi-point measurements were conducted using fiber Bragg gratings sensors coated with two different functional overlays (epoxy and PMMA) demonstrating cryogenic operation in the range 300 – 4.2 K. Distributed measurements exploited optical frequency-domain reflectometry to analyze the Rayleigh scattering along two concatenated fibers with different coatings (acrylate and polyimide). The integrated system has been placed along the 20 m long cryostat of a superconducting power transmission line, which is currently being tested at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Cool-down events from 300 K to 30 K have been successfully measured in space and time, confirming the viability of these approaches to the monitoring of cryogenic temperatures along a superconducting transmission line.