Suppression of Superconducting Critical Current Density by Small Flux Jumps in MgB2MgB_2 Thin Films

By doing magnetization measurements during magnetic field sweeps on thin films of the new superconductor $MgB_2$, it is found that in a low temperature and low field region small flux jumps are taking place. This effect strongly suppresses the central magnetization peak leading to reduced nominal superconducting critical current density at low temperatures. A borderline for this effect to occur is determined on the field-temperature (H-T) phase diagram. It is suggested that the small size of the flux jumps in films is due to the higher density of small defects and the relatively easy thermal diffusion in thin films in comparison with bulk samples.Comment: 7 figures Phys. Rev. B accepted scheduled issue: 01 Feb 200

Absence of a True Vortex-Glass Phase above the Bragg Glass Transition Line in Bi-2212

In magnetic measurements on Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ (Bi-2212) single crystals, a general peak with a dynamical feature on both $S-H$ and $S-T$ curves was found with S the magnetic relaxation rate. At higher fields, the characteristic exponent $\mu$ becomes negative, together with the positive curvature of $logE$ vs. $logj$ and the scaling based on the 2D vortex glass theory or plastic creep theory, we conclude that the vortex motion above the second peak is plastic when $j\to 0$ and there is no vortex glass phase at finite temperatures in Bi-2212. The peak of S is then explained as the crossover between different meta-stable vortex states.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, To appear in Physica

Two dimensional scaling of resistance in flux flow region in Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8Tl_2Ba_2CaCu_2O_8 thin films

The resistance of $Tl_2Ba_2CaCu_2O_8$ thin films has been measured when the angle between the applied fields and $ab$-plane of the film is changed continuously at various temperatures. Under various magnetic fields, the resistance can be well scaled in terms of the c-axis component of the applied fields at the same temperature in the whole angle range. Meanwhile, we show that the measurement of resistance in this way is a complementary method to determine the growth orientation of the anisotropic high-$T_c$ superconductors.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Have been published in Physica

Dimensional Crossover of Vortex Dynamics Induced by Gd Substitution on Bi2212 Single Crystals

The vortex dynamics of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$Ca$_{1-x}$Gd$_x$Cu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$ single crystals is investigated by magnetic relaxation and hysteresis measurements. By substituting $Ca$ with $Gd$, it is found that the interlayer Josephson coupling is weakened and the anisotropy is increased, which leads to the change of vortex dynamics from 3D elastic to 2D plastic vortex creep. Moreover, the second magnetization peak, which can be observed in samples near the optimal doping, is absent in the strongly underdoped (with 2D vortex) region.Comment: 16 Pages, 6 Figures, To appear in Physica

Flux dynamics and vortex phase diagram of the new superconductor MgB2MgB_2

Magnetic critical current density and relaxation rate have been measured on $MgB_2$ bulks from 1.6 K to $T_c$ at magnetic fields up to 8 Tesla. A vortex phase diagram is depicted based on these measurement. Two phase boundaries $H_{irr}^{bulk}(T)$ and $H_{irr}^{g}(T)$ characterizing different irreversible flux motions are found. The $H_{irr}^{bulk}(T)$ is characterized by the appearance of the linear resistivity and is attributed to quantum vortex melting induced by quantum fluctuation of vortices in the rather clean system. The second boundary $H_{irr}^g(T)$ reflects the irreversible flux motion in some local regions due to either very strong pinning or the surface barrier on the tiny grains.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

The fermi arc and fermi pocket in cuprates in a short-range diagonal stripe phase

In this paper we studied the fermi arc and the fermi pocket in cuprates in a short-range diagonal stripe phase with wave vectors $(7\pi/8, 7\pi/8)$, which reproduce with a high accuracy the positions and sizes of the fermi arc and fermi pocket and the superstructure in cuprates observed by Meng et al\cite{Meng}. The low-energy spectral function indicates that the fermi pocket results from the main band and the shadow band at the fermi energy. Above the fermi energy the shadow band gradually departs away from the main band, leaving a fermi arc. Thus we conclude that the fermi arc and fermi pocket can be fully attributed to the stripe phase but has nothing to do with pairing. Incorporating a d-wave pairing potential in the stripe phase the spectral weight in the antinodal region is removed, leaving a clean fermi pocket in the nodal region.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

The Superconductivity, Intragrain Penetration Depth and Meissner Effect of RuSr2(Gd,Ce)2Cu2O10+delta

The hole concentration (p)(delta), the transition temperature Tc, the intragrain penetration depth lambda, and the Meissner effect were measured for annealed RuSr2(Gd,Ce)2Cu2O10+delta samples. The intragrain superconducting transition temperature Tc} varied from 17 to 40 K while the p changed by only 0.03 holes/CuO2. The intragrain superfluid-density 1/lambda^2 and the diamagnetic drop of the field-cooled magnetization across Tc (the Meissner effect), however, increased more than 10 times. All of these findings are in disagreement with both the Tc vs. p and the Tc vs. 1/lambda^2 correlations proposed for homogeneous cuprates, but are in line with a possible phase-separation and the granularity associated with it.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B (May 2, 2002