797 research outputs found
Thermal properties of MgB2: the effect of disorder on gap amplitudes and relaxation times of p and s bands
We present thermal conductivity and specific heat measurements on MgB2 and
Mg-AlB2 samples. Thermal properties have been analysed by using a two-gap model
in order to estimate the gap amplitudes, D(0)p and D(0)s and the intra-band
scattering rates, Gss and Gpp. As a function of Al doping and disorder D(0)s
rapidly decreases, while D(0)p is rather constant. Gss and Gpp are increased by
the disorder, being Gpp more affected than Gss.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures, presented to the conference M2S-HTSC, 25-30 May
2003, Rio de Janeir
Tetragonal to orthorhombic phase transition in SmFeAsO: a synchrotron powder diffraction investigation
The crystal structure of SmFeAsO has been investigated by means of Rietveld
refinement of high resolution synchrotron powder diffraction data collected at
300 K and 100 K. The compound crystallizes in the tetragonal P4/nmm space group
at 300 K and in the orthorhombic Cmma space group at 100 K; attempts to refine
the low temperature data in the monoclinic P112/n space group diverged. On the
basis of both resistive and magnetic analyses the tetragonal to orthorhombic
phase transition can be located at T about 140 K.Comment: Submitted to: Superconductor Science and Technology PACS: 61.05.cp,
61.66.Fn, 74.10.+v, 74.62.Dh, 74.70.D
Numerical tests of the lookup table method in solving richards' equation for infiltration and drainage in heterogeneous soils
The lookup table option, as an alternative to analytical calculation for evaluating the nonlinear heterogeneous soil characteristics, is introduced and compared for both the Picard and Newton iterative schemes in the numerical solution of Richards\u2019 equation. The lookup table method can be a cost-effective alternative to analytical evaluation in the case of heterogeneous soils, but it has not been examined in detail in the hydrological modeling literature. Three layered soil test problems are considered, and the robustness and accuracy of the lookup table approach are assessed for uniform and non-uniform distributions of lookup points in the soil moisture retention curves. Results from the three one-dimensional test simulations show that the uniform distributed option gives improved convergence and robustness for the drainage problem compared to the non-uniform strategy. On the other hand, the non-uniform technique can be chosen for test problems involving flow into initially dry layered soils
Effect of grain refinement on enhancing critical current density and upper critical field in undoped MgB2 ex-situ tapes
Ex-situ Powder-In-Tube MgB2 tapes prepared with ball-milled, undoped powders
showed a strong enhancement of the irreversibility field H*, the upper critical
field Hc2 and the critical current density Jc(H) together with the suppression
of the anisotropy of all of these quantities. Jc reached 104 A/cm2 at 4.2 K and
10 T, with an irreversibility field of about 14 T at 4.2 K, and Hc2 of 9 T at
25 K, high values for not-doped MgB2. The enhanced Jc and H* values are
associated with significant grain refinement produced by milling of the MgB2
powder, which enhances grain boundary pinning, although at the same time also
reducing the connectivity from about 12% to 8%. Although enhanced pinning and
diminished connectivity are in opposition, the overall influence of ball
milling on Jc is positive because the increased density of grains with a size
comparable with the mean free path produces strong electron scattering that
substantially increases Hc2, especially Hc2 perpendicular to the Mg and B
planes.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J. Appl. Phy
Angular dependence of magnetoresistivity in c-oriented MgB2 thin film
The anisotropy of MgB2 is still under debate: its value, strongly dependent
on the sample and on the measuring method, ranges between 1.2 and 13. In this
work we present our results on a MgB2 c-oriented superconducting thin film. To
evaluate the anisotropy, we followed two different approaches. Firstly,
magnetoresistivity was measured as a function of temperature at selected
magnetic fields applied both parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis;
secondly, we measured magnetoresistivity at selected temperatures and magnetic
fields, varying the angle q between the magnetic field and the c-axis. The
anisotropy estimated from the ratio between the upper critical fields parallel
and perpendicular to the c-axis and the one obtained in the framework of the
scaling approach within the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory are different
but show a similar trend in the temperature dependence. The obtained results
are compared and discussed in the light of the two-band nature of MgB2. A
comparison between critical fields in thin films and single crystal is also
performed.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, European Physical Journal B in pres
Experimental confirmation of the low B isotope coefficient in MgB2
Recent investigations have shown that the first proposed explanations of the
disagreement between experimental and theoretical value of isotope coefficient
in MgB2 need to be reconsidered. Considering that in samples with residual
resistivity of few mu-Ohm cm critical temperature variations produced by
disorder effects can be comparable with variations due to the isotopic effect,
we adopt a procedure in evaluating the B isotope coefficient which take account
of these effects, obtaining a value which is in agreement with previous results
and then confirming that there is something still unclear in the physics of
MgB2.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures Title has been changed A statement has been added
in page 7 of the pdf file "Finally we would..." Reference 21 has been added
Figure 1 anf Figure 2 have been change
Anisotropic critical currents in FeSe0.5Te0.5 films and the influence of neutron irradiation
We report on measurements of the superconducting properties of FeSe05Te05
thin films grown on lanthanum aluminate. The films have high transition
temperatures (above 19 K) and sharp resistive transitions in fields up to 15 T.
The temperature dependence of the upper critical field and the irreversibility
lines are steep and anisotropic, as recently reported for single crystals. The
critical current densities, assessed by magnetization measurements in a vector
VSM, were found to be well above 10^9 Am-2 at low temperatures. In all samples,
the critical current as a function of field orientation has a maximum, when the
field is oriented parallel to the film surface. The maximum indicates the
presence of correlated pinning centers. A minimum occurs in three films, when
the field is applied perpendicular to the film plane. In the forth film,
instead, a local maximum caused by c-axis correlated pinning centers was found
at this orientation. The irradiation of two films with fast neutrons did not
change the properties drastically, where a maximum enhancement of the critical
current by a factor of two was found
Tc=21K in epitaxial FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films with biaxial compressive strain
High purity epitaxial FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films with different thickness were
grown by Pulsed Laser Ablation on different substrates. By varying the film
thickness, Tc up to 21K were observed, significantly larger than the bulk
value. Structural analyses indicated that the a axis changes significantly with
the film thickness and is linearly related to the Tc. The latter result
indicates the important role of the compressive strain in enhancing Tc. Tc is
also related to both the Fe-(Se,Te) bond length and angle, suggesting the
possibility of further enhancement
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