0000000000073244
AUTHOR
A.m. Testa
Temperature and magnetic-field dependence of quantum creep in various high-Tcsuperconductors
To investigate the quantum tunneling of almost macroscopic vortex segments we measured the normalized relaxation rate Q of superconducting currents for various high-T{sub c} superconductors (HTS's) down to 100 mK in magnetic fields up to 7 T. At fields below {approx_equal}0.5 T, Q is essentially independent of T in the temperature regime between thermally activated and quantum motion as theoretically expected. However, at higher fields, we find an unexpected linear T dependence of Q persisting down to the lowest temperatures in all investigated samples. Since these compounds were chosen to represent the distinct classes of dirty and clean HTS's, the extrapolated Q(T=0) values are used to di…
Origin of high critical currents in YBa2Cu3O7−δ superconducting thin films
Thin films of the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7−δ exhibit both a large critical current (the superconducting current density generally lies between 1011 and 1012 A m−2 at 4.2 K in zero magnetic field) and a decrease in such currents with magnetic field that point to the importance of strong vortex pinning along extended defects1,2. But it has hitherto been unclear which types of defect—dislocations, grain boundaries, surface corrugations and anti-phase boundaries—are responsible. Here we make use of a sequential etching technique to address this question. We find that both edge and screw dislocations, which can be mapped quantitatively by this technique, are the linear defects t…
Superconducting properties of polycrystalline YBCO prepared by a pyrolytic process
Polycrystalline YBCO was prepared by a pyrolytic process starting from citrate and tartrate precursors. The effect of the precursor on the superconducting properties was investigated by means of magnetic measurements using a SQUID magnetometer, a Vibrating-Sample Magnetometer and an a.c. susceptometer. The critical temperature is not affected by the type of precursor (Tc=85 K for both). On the other hand, the precursor plays an important role on the critical current density, which is found to be an order of magnitude higher in the sample obtained from citrates (Jc(77K, H=0)=2.3·104 A/cm2 and 103 A/cm2 for the from-citrate and from-tartrate sample, respectively).