Anisotropic superconducting properties of aligned MgB2 crystallites

Samples of aligned MgB2 crystallites have been prepared, allowing for the first time the direct identification of an upper critical field anisotropy Hc2^{ab}/Hc2^{c}= xi_{ab}/xi_{c} ~ 1.73; with xi_{o,ab} ~ 70 A, xi_{o,c} ~ 40 A, and a mass anisotropy ratio m_{ab}/m_{c} ~ 0.3. A ferromagnetic background signal was identified, possibly related to the raw materials purity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Revised version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let