491 research outputs found
Geology of the Elisenheim area, Windhoek district, South West Africa, with special reference to the Matchless amphibolite belt
The Elisenheim area is situated just north of Windhoek within the Windhoek Formation of the Swakop Subgroup and is underlain by monotonous succession of semi-pelitic schists with intercalations of amphibolite, talc schist, graphitic schist and marble. Petrographic studies on units of the Matchless amphibolite which outcrop in the south of the property, have resulted in the recognition of three different types of amphibolite, namely, epidote amphibolite, porphyroblastic amphibolite and chlorite-amphibole schist. Amphibole porphyroblasts generally display patchy and zonal intergrowths of hornblende and actinolite which are indicative of non-equilibration during prograde metamorphism. Talc schists have been mapped in the north of the property. All lithotypes have undergone three phases of deformation (Fl, FZ, F3) which terminated with the faulting which underlies the Klein Windhoek, Dobra, Tigenschlücht and Kuruma rivers. Medium grade regional metamorphism accompanied F 1, F Z and F 3 and outlasted the latter. Mineral assemblages throughout the area are those of the amphibolite facies and P, T conditions prevailing during metamorphism are estimated to have been at least 5 kb at ~ 550° C. Petrochemical evidence indicates that the Matchless amphibolites are igneous in origin and genetically related to the ultrabasic talc schists. They are similar in composition to oceanic tholeiites and are thought to have been extruded subaqueously
Systematic effects of carbon doping on the superconducting properties of Mg(BC)
The upper critical field, , of Mg(BC) has been
measured in order to probe the maximum magnetic field range for
superconductivity that can be attained by C doping. Carbon doped boron
filaments are prepared by CVD techniques, and then these fibers are then
exposed to Mg vapor to form the superconducting compound. The transition
temperatures are depressed about C and rises at about C. This means that 3.5% C will depress from to and
raise from to . Higher fields are probably
attainable in the region of 5% C to 7% C. These rises in are
accompanied by a rise in resistivity at from about
to about . Given that the samples are polycrystalline wire
segments, the experimentally determined curves represent the upper
manifold associated with
Penetration Depth and Anisotropy in MgB2
The penetration depth lambda of MgB2 was deduced from both the ac
susceptibility chi and the magnetization M(H) of sorted powders. The good
agreement between the two sets of data without geometric correction for the
grain orientation suggests that MgB2 is an isotropic superconductor.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; submitted to Physical Review B (February 28,
2001; revised June 28, 2001); reference list update
Effects of Neutron Irradiation on Carbon Doped MgB2 Wire Segments
We have studied the evolution of superconducting and normal state properties
of neutron irradiated Mg(BC) wire segments as a function
of post exposure annealing time and temperature. The initial fluence fully
suppressed superconductivity and resulted in an anisotropic expansion of the
unit cell. Superconductivity was restored by post-exposure annealing. The upper
critical field, H(T=0), approximately scales with T starting with an
undamaged T near 37 K and H(T=0) near 32 T. Up to an annealing
temperature of 400 C the recovery of T tends to coincide with a
decrease in the normal state resistivity and a systematic recovery of the
lattice parameters. Above 400 C a decrease in order along the c- direction
coincides with an increase in resistivity, but no apparent change in the
evolution of T and H. To first order, it appears that carbon doping
and neutron damaging effect the superconducting properties of MgB
independently
Suppression of Superconducting Critical Current Density by Small Flux Jumps in Thin Films
By doing magnetization measurements during magnetic field sweeps on thin
films of the new superconductor , it is found that in a low temperature
and low field region small flux jumps are taking place. This effect strongly
suppresses the central magnetization peak leading to reduced nominal
superconducting critical current density at low temperatures. A borderline for
this effect to occur is determined on the field-temperature (H-T) phase
diagram. It is suggested that the small size of the flux jumps in films is due
to the higher density of small defects and the relatively easy thermal
diffusion in thin films in comparison with bulk samples.Comment: 7 figures Phys. Rev. B accepted scheduled issue: 01 Feb 200
Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy in MgB2
We present scanning tunneling microscopy measurements of the surface of
superconducting MgB2 with a critical temperature of 39K. In zero magnetic field
the conductance spectra can be analyzed in terms of the standard BCS theory
with a smearing parameter Gamma. The value of the superconducting gap is 5.2
meV at 4.2 K, with no experimentally significant variation across the surface
of the sample. The temperature dependence of the gap follows the BCS form,
fully consistent with phonon-mediated superconductivity in this novel
superconductor. The application of a magnetic field induces strong
pair-breaking as seen in the conductance spectra in fields up to 6 T.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The Average Kinetic Energy of the Superconducting State
Isothermal magnetization curves are plotted as the magnetization times the
magnetic induction, , versus the applied field, H. We show
here that this new curve is the average kinetic energy of the superconducting
state versus the applied field, for type-II superconductors with a high
Ginzburg-Landau parameter . The maximum of occurs at
a field, , directly related to the upper critical field, ,
suggesting that may be extracted from such plots even in cases when
it is too high for direct measurement. We obtain these plots both
theoretically, from the Ginzburg-Landau theory, and experimentally, using a
Niobium sample with , and compare them.Comment: 11 pages, 9 postscript figure
Order parameter of MgB_2: a fully gapped superconductor
We have measured the low-temperature specific heat C(T) for polycrystalline
MgB_2 prepared by high pressure synthesis. C(T) below 10 K vanishes
exponentially, which unambiguously indicates a fully opened superconducting
energy gap. However, this gap is found to be too small to account for Tc of
MgB_2. Together with the small specific heat jump DeltaC/gamma_nTc=1.13,
scenarios like anisotropic s-wave or multi-component order parameter are called
for. The magnetic field dependence of gamma(H) is neither linear for a fully
gapped s-wave superconductor nor H^1/2 for nodal order parameter. It seems that
this intriguing behavior of gamma(H) is associated with the intrinsic
electronic properties other than flux pinning.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; revised text and figures; references updated,
Phys. Rev. Lett., in pres
High current-carrying capability in c-axis-oriented superconducting MgB2 thin films
In high-quality c-axis-oriented MgB2 thin films, we observed high critical
current densities (Jc) of 16 MA/cm^2 at 15 K under self fields comparable to
those of cuprate high-temperature superconductors. The extrapolated value of Jc
at 5 K was estimated to be 40 MA/cm^2. For a magnetic field of 5 T, a Jc of 0.1
MA/cm^2 was detected at 15 K, suggesting that this compound would be a very
promising candidate for practical applications at high temperature and lower
power consumption. The vortex-glass phase is considered to be a possible
explanation for the observed high current-carrying capability.Comment: 3 pages and 4 figures, to be published in Physical Review Letter
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