53 research outputs found
Vortices and the mixed state of ultrathin Bi films
Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of quench condensed, superconducting,
ultrathin Bi films in a magnetic field are reported. These show hysteresis for
all films, grown both with and without thin Ge underlayers. Films on Ge
underlayers, close to superconductor-insulator transition, show a peak in the
critical current, indicating a structural transformation of the vortex solid.
These underlayers, used to make the films more homogeneous, are found to be
more effective in pinning the vortices. The upper critical fields () of
these films are determined from the resistive transitions in perpendicular
magnetic field. The temperature dependence of the upper critical field is found
to differ significantly from Ginzburg-Landau theory, after modifications for
disorder.Comment: Submitted to LT23 Proceeding
Measurement of Magnetic Relaxation in the peak regime of V3Si
Magnetization relaxation measurements are carried out in the Peak effect
regime of superconducting V3Si crystal, using Quantum Design SQUID
magnetometer. Relaxation in the increasing field scan is logarithmic in time,
consistent with the theory of flux creep. The relaxation on the decreasing
field scan however exhibits athermal behavior which is predominantly governed
by the flux avalanches triggered by the small external field perturbation
experienced by the superconductor during measurement scan in an inhomogeneous
field.Comment: PDF, 17 pages including 9 figure
Unexpected fourfold symmetry in the resistivity of patterned superconductors
We report the magneto-optical observation of a surprising fourfold symmetry of the flux penetration in a superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-delta thin-film disk containing a square array of antidots, leading to an angular variation of the critical current by a factor of nearly 2. This behavior is explained using a vortex channeling model. Potential applications in superconducting devices are discussed
Magneto-optical imaging of magnetic flux patterns in superconducting films with antidots
Superconducting YBaCuO thin films were equipped with a special arrangement of
antidots (holes) of 1 micron radius in order to guide the stream of magnetic
flux moving in (or out of) the sample. The flux distribution and its dynamics
were visualized using real-time magneto-optical imaging. It is clearly
demonstrated that one-dimensional antidot arrays strongly facilitate
propagation of magnetic flux. We also demonstrate a possibility to alter the
direction of flux motion in a controlled way by special arrangement of
intercepting antidot arrays. Our resolution was sufficient for observation of
flux in particular antidots, which allows a more detailed dynamic analysis of
such systems.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physica C, Proc. of VORTEX-IV
Workshop on Crete-200
Niobium based intermetallics as a source of high-current/high-magnetic field superconductors
The article is focused on low temperature intermetallic A15 superconducting
wires development for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, NMR, and Nuclear Magnetic
Imaging, MRI, magnets and also on cryogen-free magnets. There are many other
applications which would benefit from new development such as future Large
Hadron Collider to be built from A15 intermetallic conductors. This paper
highlights the current status of development of the niobium based
intermetallics with special attention to Nb 3 (Al 1-x, Ge x). Discussion is
focused on the materials science aspects of conductor manufacture, such as
b-phase (A15) formation, with particular emphasis on the maximisation of the
superconducting parameters, such as critical current density, Jc, critical
temperature, Tc, and upper critical field, Hc2 . Many successful manufacturing
techniques of the potential niobium-aluminide intermetallic superconducting
conductors, such as solid-state processing, liquid-solid processing, rapid
heating/cooling processes, are described, compared and assessed. Special
emphasis has been laid on conditions under which the Jc (B) peak effect occurs
in some of the Nb3(Al,Ge) wires. A novel electrodeoxidizing method developed in
Cambridge whereby the alloys and intermetallics are produced cheaply making all
superconducting electromagnetic devices, using low cost LTCs, more cost
effective is presented.This new technique has potential to revolutionise the
existing superconducting industry enabling reduction of cost orders of
magnitude.Comment: Paper presented at EUCAS'01 conference, Copenhagen, 26-30 August 200
Instabilities and disorder-driven first-order transition of the vortex lattice
Transport studies in a Corbino disk geometry suggest that the Bragg glass
phase undergoes a first-order transition into a disordered solid. This
transition shows a sharp reentrant behavior at low fields. In contrast, in the
conventional strip configuration, the phase transition is obscured by the
injection of the disordered vortices through the sample edges, which results in
the commonly observed vortex instabilities and smearing of the peak effect in
NbSe2 crystals. These features are found to be absent in the Corbino geometry,
in which the circulating vortices do not cross the sample edges.Comment: 12 pages 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Vortex dynamics and upper critical fields in ultrathin Bi films
Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of quench condensed, superconducting,
ultrathin films in a magnetic field are reported. These I-V's show
hysteresis for all films, grown both with and without thin underlayers.
Films on Ge underlayers, close to superconductor-insulator transition (SIT),
show a peak in the critical current, indicating a structural transformation of
the vortex solid (VS). These underlayers, used to make the films more
homogeneous, are found to be more effective in pinning the vortices. The upper
critical fields (B) of these films are determined from the resistive
transitions in perpendicular magnetic field. The temperature dependence of the
upper critical field is found to differ significantly from Ginzburg-Landau
theory, after modifications for disorder.Comment: Phys Rev B, to be published Figure 6 replaced with correct figur
V-I characteristics in the vicinity of order-disorder transition in vortex matter
The shape of the V-I characteristics leading to a peak in the differential
resistance r_d=dV/dI in the vicinity of the order-disorder transition in NbSe2
is investigated. r_d is large when measured by dc current. However, for a small
Iac on a dc bias r_d decreases rapidly with frequency, even at a few Hz, and
displays a large out-of-phase signal. In contrast, the ac response increases
with frequency in the absence of dc bias. These surprisingly opposite phenomena
and the peak in r_d are shown to result from a dynamic coexistence of two
vortex matter phases rather than from the commonly assumed plastic depinning.Comment: 12 pages 4 figures. Accepted for publication in PRB rapi
Disordered Type-II Superconductors: A Universal Phase Diagram for Low-T Systems
A universal phase diagram for weakly pinned low-T type-II superconductors
is revisited and extended with new proposals. The low-temperature ``Bragg
glass'' phase is argued to transform first into a disordered, glassy phase upon
heating. This glassy phase, a continuation of the high-field equilibrium vortex
glass phase, then melts at higher temperatures into a liquid. This proposal
provides an explanation for the anomalies observed in the peak effect regime of
2H-NbSe and several other low-T materials which is independent of the
microscopic mechanisms of superconductivity in these systems.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure
Core pinning by intragranular nanoprecipitates in polycrystalline MgCNi_3
The nanostructure and magnetic properties of polycrystalline MgCNi_3 were
studied by x-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and vibrating sample
magnetometry. While the bulk flux-pinning force curve F_p(H) indicates the
expected grain-boundary pinning mechanism just below T_c = 7.2 K, a systematic
change to pinning by a nanometer-scale distribution of core pinning sites is
indicated by a shift of F_p(H) with decreasing temperature. The lack of scaling
of F_p(H) suggests the presence of 10 to 20% of nonsuperconducting regions
inside the grains, which are smaller than the diameter of fluxon cores 2xi at
high temperature and become effective with decreasing temperature when xi(T)
approaches the nanostructural scale. Transmission electron microscopy revealed
cubic and graphite nanoprecipitates with 2 to 5 nm size, consistent with the
above hypothesis since xi(0) = 6 nm. High critical current densities, more than
10^6 A/cm^2 at 1 T and 4.2 K, were obtained for grain colonies separated by
carbon. Dirty-limit behavior seen in previous studies may be tied to electron
scattering by the precipitates, indicating the possibility that strong core
pinning might be combined with a technologically useful upper critical field if
versions of MgCNi_3 with higher T_c can be found.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR
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