Drastic improvement of surface structure and current-carrying ability in YBa2Cu3O7 films by introducing multilayered structure

Much smoother surfaces and significantly improved superconducting properties of relatively thick YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films have been achieved by introducing a multilayered structure with alternating main YBCO and additional NdBCO layers. The surface of thick (1 microm) multilayers has almost no holes compared to YBCO films. Critical current density (Jc) have been drastically increased up to a factor > 3 in 1 microm multilayered structures compared to YBCO films over entire temperature and applied magnetic filed range. Moreover, Jc values measured in thick multilayers are even larger than in much thinner YBCO films. The Jc and surface improvement have been analysed and attributed to growth conditions and corresponding structural peculiarities.Comment: Accepted to Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, June (2006), in press 4 pages, 3 figure

Morphological characterization of shocked porous material

Morphological measures are introduced to probe the complex procedure of shock wave reaction on porous material. They characterize the geometry and topology of the pixelized map of a state variable like the temperature. Relevance of them to thermodynamical properties of material is revealed and various experimental conditions are simulated. Numerical results indicate that, the shock wave reaction results in a complicated sequence of compressions and rarefactions in porous material. The increasing rate of the total fractional white area $A$ roughly gives the velocity $D$ of a compressive-wave-series. When a velocity $D$ is mentioned, the corresponding threshold contour-level of the state variable, like the temperature, should also be stated. When the threshold contour-level increases, $D$ becomes smaller. The area $A$ increases parabolically with time $t$ during the initial period. The $A(t)$ curve goes back to be linear in the following three cases: (i) when the porosity $\delta$ approaches 1, (ii) when the initial shock becomes stronger, (iii) when the contour-level approaches the minimum value of the state variable. The area with high-temperature may continue to increase even after the early compressive-waves have arrived at the downstream free surface and some rarefactive-waves have come back into the target body. In the case of energetic material ... (see the full text)Comment: 3 figures in JPG forma

Nodeless superconductivity in Ir1−x_{1-x}Ptx_xTe2_2 with strong spin-orbital coupling

The thermal conductivity $\kappa$ of superconductor Ir$_{1-x}$Pt$_{x}$Te$_2$ ($x$ = 0.05) single crystal with strong spin-orbital coupling was measured down to 50 mK. The residual linear term $\kappa_0/T$ is negligible in zero magnetic field. In low magnetic field, $\kappa_0/T$ shows a slow field dependence. These results demonstrate that the superconducting gap of Ir$_{1-x}$Pt$_{x}$Te$_2$ is nodeless, and the pairing symmetry is likely conventional s-wave, despite the existence of strong spin-orbital coupling and a quantum critical point.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Superconducting screening on different length scales in high-quality bulk MgB2 superconductor

High quality bulk MgB2 exhibit a structure of voids and agglomeration of crystals on different length-scales. Because of this, the superconducting currents percolate between the voids in the ensuing structure. Magnetic measurements reveal that the superconducting currents circulate on at least three different length-scales, of ~1 micrometre, ~10 micrometre and whole of the sample (~millimetre). Each of these screenings contributes to the measured irreversible magnetic moment (Dm). The analysis of the field dependence of Dm for samples of subsequently decreasing size showed that the critical current obtained using the simple critical state model is erroneous. This leads to the artefact of the sample size-dependent critical current and irreversibility field. Our data analysis enables the separation of the contribution of each of the screening currents to Dm. The field dependence of each of the currents follows a stretched exponential form. The currents flowing around whole of the sample give a dominant contribution to Dm in the intermediate fields (1T < H < 4T at 20K) and they can be used to obtain the value of Jc from critical state model, which corresponds to the transport Jc

Critical Current Density and Resistivity of MgB2 Films

The high resistivity of many bulk and film samples of MgB2 is most readily explained by the suggestion that only a fraction of the cross-sectional area of the samples is effectively carrying current. Hence the supercurrent (Jc) in such samples will be limited by the same area factor, arising for example from porosity or from insulating oxides present at the grain boundaries. We suggest that a correlation should exist, Jc ~ 1/{Rho(300K) - Rho(50K)}, where Rho(300K) - Rho(50K) is the change in the apparent resistivity from 300 K to 50 K. We report measurements of Rho(T) and Jc for a number of films made by hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition which demonstrate this correlation, although the "reduced effective area" argument alone is not sufficient. We suggest that this argument can also apply to many polycrystalline bulk and wire samples of MgB2.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Properties of superconducting MgB_2 wires: "in-situ" versus "ex-situ" reaction technique

We have fabricated a series of iron-sheathed superconducting wires prepared by the powder-in-tube technique from (MgB_2)_{1-x}:(Mg+2B)_x initial powder mixtures taken with different proportions, so that x varies from 0 to 1. It turned out that "ex-situ" prepared wire (x = 0) has considerable disadvantages compared to all the other wires in which "in-situ" assisted (0 < x < 1) or pure "in-situ" (x = 1) preparation was used due to weaker inter-grain connectivity. As a result, higher critical current densities J_c were measured over the entire range of applied magnetic fields B_a for all the samples with x > 0. Pinning of vortices in MgB_2 wires is shown to be due to grain boundaries. J_c(B_a) behavior is governed by an interplay between the transparency of grain boundaries and the amount of "pinning" grain boundaries. Differences between thermo-magnetic flux-jump instabilities in the samples and a possible threat to practical applications are also discussed.Comment: To be published in Supercond. Sci. Technol. (2003), in pres