605 research outputs found
Sonochemical Modification of the Superconducting Properties of MgB2
Ultrasonic irradiation of magnesium diboride slurries in decalin produces
material with significant inter-grain fusion. Sonication in the presence of
Fe(CO)5 produces magnetic Fe2O3 nanoparticles embedded in the MgB2 bulk. The
resulting superconductor-ferromagnet composite exhibits considerable
enhancement of the magnetic hysteresis, which implies an increase of vortex
pinning strength due to embedded magnetic nanoparticles
Effects of High Intensity Ultrasound on BSCCO-2212 Superconductor
Slurries of powdered Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x superconductor in low volatility alkanes
were treated with intense ultrasound. Significant enhancements of magnetic
irreversibility as well as transport critical current are reported. The effects
are dependent on the concentration of the slurry and are optimal for 1.5% wt.
slurry loading. Electron microscopy shows that ultrasonic treatment leads to a
change in grain morphology and intergrain welding. The observed enhancement of
superconducting properties is consistent with the limitations in critical
currents in BSCCO superconductor being due to intergrain coupling rather than
intragrain pinning strength.Comment: 3 page
Magnetic nanoparticles as efficient bulk pinning centers in type-II superconductors
Enhancement of flux pinning by magnetic nanoparticles embedded into the bulk
of type-2 superconductor is studied both theoretically and experimentally.
Magnetic part of the pinning force associated with the interaction between a
spherical magnetic inclusion and an Abrikosov vortex was calculated in the
London approximation. Calculations are supported by the experimental results
obtained on sonochemically modified MgB2 superconductor with embedded magnetic
Fe2O3 nanoparticles and compared to MgB2 with nonmagnetic Mo2O5 pinning centers
of similar concentration and particle size distribution. It is shown that
ferromagnetic nanoparticles result in a considerable enhancement of vortex
pinning in large-kappa type-2 superconductors.Comment: PDF, 14 page
Effect of high-intensity ultrasound on superconducting properties of polycrystalline YBCO
High intensity ultrasonic irradiation (sonication) of alkane slurries of
polycrystalline \ybco leads to a significant modification of the grain
morphology and, if performed with enforced oxygen flow, results in the increase
of the superconducting transition temperature. Sonication with added Fe(CO)
produces magnetic \fe2o3 nanoparticles deposited on the surface of \ybco (YBCO)
granules. Upon sintering these nanoparticles should act as efficient pinning
centers utilizing both condensation and magnetic contributions to the free
energy. The developed method could become a major technique to produce
practically useful high-pinning nanocomposite materials based on \ybco
superconductor.Comment: to be presented at LT-25 conferenc
Precise measurements of radio-frequency magnetic susceptibility in (anti)ferromagnetic materials
Dynamic magnetic susceptibility, , was studied in several intermetallic
materials exhibiting ferromagnetic, antiferromagnetic and metamagnetic
transitions. Precise measurements by using a 14 MHz tunnel diode oscillator
(TDO) allow detailed insight into the field and temperature dependence of
. In particular, local moment ferromagnets show a sharp peak in
near the Curie temperature, . The peak amplitude decreases and shifts to
higher temperatures with very small applied dc fields. Anisotropic measurements
of CeVSb show that this peak is present provided the magnetic easy axis is
aligned with the excitation field. In a striking contrast, small moment,
itinerant ferromagnets (i.e., ZrZn) show a broad maximum in that
responds differently to applied field. We believe that TDO measurements provide
a very sensitive way to distinguish between local and itinerant moment magnetic
orders. Local moment antiferromagnets do not show a peak at the N\'eel
temperature, , but only a sharp decrease of below due to the
loss of spin-disorder scattering changing the penetration depth of the ac
excitation field. Furthermore, we show that the TDO is capable of detecting
changes in spin order as well as metamagnetic transitions. Finally, critical
scaling of in the vicinity of is discussed in CeVSb and
CeAgSb
Zooming into the coexisting regime of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in ErRh4B4 single crystals
High resolution measurements of the dynamic magnetic susceptibility are
reported for ferromagnetic re-entrant superconductor, ErRhB.
Detailed investigation of the coexisting regime reveals unusual
temperature-asymmetric and magnetically anisotropic behavior. The
superconducting phase appears via a series of discontinuous steps upon warming
from the ferromagnetic normal phase, whereas the ferromagnetic phase develops
via a gradual transition. A model based on local field inhomogeneity is
proposed to explain the observations
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