4 research outputs found
Current-induced highly dissipative domains in high Tc thin films
We have investigated the resistive response of high Tc thin films submitted
to a high density of current. For this purpose, current pulses were applied
into bridges made of Nd(1.15)Ba(1.85)Cu3O7 and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. By recording the
time dependent voltage, we observe that at a certain critical current j*, a
highly dissipative domain develops somewhere along the bridge. The successive
formation of these domains produces stepped I-V characteristics. We present
evidences that these domains are not regions with a temperature above Tc, as
for hot spots. In fact this phenomenon appears to be analog to the nucleation
of phase-slip centers observed in conventional superconductors near Tc, but
here in contrast they appear in a wide temperature range. Under some
conditions, these domains will propagate and destroy the superconductivity
within the whole sample. We have measured the temperature dependence of j* and
found a similar behavior in the two investigated compounds. This temperature
dependence is just the one expected for the depairing current, but the
amplitude is about 100 times smaller.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
What is diffusion?
In earlier publications, heat Qā is defined as an interaction that is entirely distinguishable from work Wā. The energy exchanged Qā is TQ times the entropy exchanged Sā, where TQ is the almost common temperature of the interacting systems. Here, we define diffusion as another interaction that is entirely distinguishable from both work and heat, and that involves exchanges of energy, entropy, and amount of a constituent. It is an interaction between two systems A and B that pass through stable equilibrium states while their respective parameters remain fixed, and that have almost equal temperatures TAāTBāTD and almost equal total potentials Ī¼AāĪ¼BāĪ¼D of the diffusing constituent. The exchanges of entropy Sā, energy Eā, and amount of constituent nā out of one system satisfy the relation Sā = Eā-Ī¼Dnā/TD. In the limit of nā = 0, a diffusion interaction becomes heat