Vibrations in Magnet/Superconductor Levitation Systems

The problem of a small magnet levitating above a very thin superconducting disc in the Meissner state is analysed. The dipole--dipole interaction model is employed to derive analytical expressions for the interaction energy, levitation force, magnetic stiffness and frequency of small vibrations about the equilibrium position in two different configurations, i.e. with the magnetic moment parallel and perpendicular to the superconductor. The results show that the frequency of small vibrations decreases with the increasing levitation height for a particular radius of the superconducting disc, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. However, the frequency increases monotonically up to saturation by increasing the radius of the disc for a particular height of the magnet. In addition, the frequency of vibrations is higher when the system is in the vertical configuration than that when the system is in the horizontal configuration.