6 research outputs found
ab-plane tunneling and Andreev spectroscopy of superconducting gap and pseudogap in (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8
We have measured the temperature dependence of gap features revealed by
Andreev reflection Delta_s and by tunneling Delta in the ab-plane of optimal
and slightly overdoped microcrystals of (BiPb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 (Bi2223) with
critical temperature Tc=110-115 K, and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi2212) with Tc=80-84 K.
The tunneling conductance of Bi2223-Insulator-Bi2223 junction shows peaks at
the 2Delta gap voltage, as well as dips and broad humps at other voltages. In
Bi2223, similarly to the well known Bi2212 spectra, the energies corresponding
to 2Delta, to the dip, and to the hump structure are in the ratio of 2:3:4.
This confirms that the dip and hump features are generic to the high
temperature superconductors, irrespective of the number of CuO2 layers or the
BiO superstructure. On the other hand, in both compounds Delta(T) and
Delta_s(T) dependences are completely different, and we conclude that the two
entities have different nature.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 17 pages, 7 figures in .eps forma
Strong Pinning in High Temperature Superconductors
Detailed measurements of the critical current density jc of YBa2Cu3O7 films
grown by pulsed laser deposition reveal the increase of jc as function of the
filmthickness. Both this thickness dependence and the field dependence of the
critical current are consistently described using a generalization of the
theory of strong pinning of Ovchinnikov and Ivlev [Phys. Rev. B 43, 8024
(1991)]. From the model, we deduce values of the defect density (10^21 m^-3)
and the elementary pinning force, which are in good agreement with the
generally accepted values for Y2O3-inclusions. In the absence of clear evidence
that the critical current is determined by linear defects or modulations of the
film thickness, our model provides an alternative explanation for the rather
universal field dependence of the critical current density found in YBa2Cu3O7
films deposited by different methods.Comment: 11 pages; 8 Figures; Published Phys. Rev. B 66, 024523 (2002