Critical Currents, Pinning Forces and Irreversibility Fields in (YxTml-x)Ba2Cu3O7 Single Crystals with Columnar Defects in Fields up to 50 T

We have studied the influence of columnar defects, created by heavy-ion (Kr) irradiation with doses up to 6 10^11 Kr-ions/cm2, on the superconducting critical parameters of single crystalline (YxTm1-x)Ba2Cu3O7. Magnetisation measurements in pulsed fields up to 50 T in the temperature range 4.2 - 90 K revealed that: (i) in fields up to T the critical current Jc(H,T) is considerably enhanced and (ii) down to temperatures T ~ 40 K the irreversibility field Hirr(T) is strongly increased. The field range and magnitude of the Jc(H,T) and Hirr(T) enhancement increase with increasing irradiation dose. To interpret these observations, an effective matching field was defined. Moreover, introducing columnar defects also changes the pinning force fp qualitatively. Due to stronger pinning of flux lines by the amorphous defects, the superconducting critical parameters largely exceed those associated with the defect structures in the unirradiated as-grown material: Jc,irrad(77 K, 5 T) ^3 10* Jc,ref(77 K, 5 T).Comment: 11 pages, all PDF, contribution to Physica

Optical spectra, crystal-field parameters, and magnetic susceptibility of the new multiferroic NdFe3(BO3)4

We report high-resolution optical absorption spectra for NdFe3(BO3)4 trigonal single crystal which is known to exhibit a giant magnetoelectric effect below the temperature of magnetic ordering TN = 33 K. The analysis of the temperature-dependent polarized spectra reveals the energies and, in some cases, symmetries and exchange splittings of Nd3+ 84 Kramers doublets. We perform crystal-field calculations starting from the exchange-charge model, obtain a set of six real crystal-field parameters, and calculate wave functions and magnetic g-factors. In particular, the values g(perpendicular) = 2.385, g(parallel) = 1.376 were found for the Nd3+ ground-state doublet. We obtain Bloc=7.88 T and |JFN|= 0.48 K for the values of the local effective magnetic field at liquid helium temperatures at the Nd3+ site and the Nd - Fe exchange integral, respectively, using the experimentally measured Nd3+ ground-state splitting of 8.8 cm-1. To check reliability of our set of crystal field parameters we model the magnetic susceptibility data from literature. A dimer containing two nearest-neighbor iron ions in the spiral chain is considered to partly account for quasi-one-dimensional properties of iron borates, and then the mean-field approximation is used. The results of calculations with the exchange parameters for Fe3+ ions Jnn = -6.25 K (intra-chain interactions) and Jnnn = -1.92 K (inter-chain interactions) obtained from fitting agree well with the experimental data.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

Nonlogarithmic magnetization relaxation at the initial time intervals and magnetic field dependence of the flux creep rate in Bi2Sr2Ca(sub I)Cu2Ox single crystals

At the initial time intervals, preceding the thermally activated flux creep regime, fast nonlogarithmic relaxation is found. The fully magnetic moment Pm(t) relaxation curve is shown. The magnetic measurements were made using SQUID-magnetometer. Two different relaxation regimes exist. The nonlogarithmic relaxation for the initial time intervals may be related to the viscous Abrikosov vortices flow with j is greater than j(sub c) for high enough temperature T and magnetic field induction B. This assumption correlates with Pm(t) measurements. The characteristic time t(sub O) separating two different relaxation regimes decreases as temperature and magnetic field are lowered. The logarithmic magnetization relaxation curves Pm(t) for fixed temperature and different external magnetic field inductions B are given. The relaxation rate dependence on magnetic field, R(B) = dPm(B, T sub O)/d(1nt) has a sharp maximum which is similar to that found for R(T) temperature dependences. The maximum shifts to lower fields as temperature goes up. The observed sharp maximum is related to a topological transition in shielding critical current distribution and, consequently, in Abrikosov vortices density. The nonlogarithmic magnetization relaxation for the initial time intervals is found. This fast relaxation has almost an exponentional character. The sharp relaxation rate R(B) maximum is observed. This maximum corresponds to a topological transition in Abrikosov vortices distribution

Folded modes in the infrared spectra of the spin-Peierls phase of CuGeO_3

Polarized far-infrared transmittance spectra of CuGeO_3 single crystals were measured at different temperatures (6K < T < 300K). Two spectral lines, at 284.2 cm-1 in E||c polarization and at 311.7 cm-1 in E||b polarization, appear at the temperature of the spin-Peierls transition and grow in intensity with decreasing temperature. Both of them are, most probably, folded modes of the dimerized lattice. We discuss a possible role of the spin-phonon interaction in the formation of the 311.7 cm-1 feature.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; Submitted to Phys.Rev.B Second revision. Figures and text were slightly change

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

Superconductivuty versus Tunneling in a Doped Antiferromagnetic Ladder

The low-energy charge excitations of a doped antiferromagnetic ladder are modeled by a system of interacting spinless fermions that live on the same ladder. A relatively large spin gap is assumed to ``freeze out'' all spin fluctuations. We find that the formation of rung hole pairs coincides with the opening of a single-particle gap for charge excitations along chains and with the absence of coherent tunneling in between chains. We also find that such hole pairs condense into either a crystalline or superconducting state as a function of the binding energy.Comment: 15 pgs. in PLAIN TeX, 2 figs. in postscript, to appear in Phys. Rev.