Zero resistance at 148.5K in fluorine implanted YBaCuO compound

Fluorine ions with an energy of 180keV at a dose of 1×10¹⁵ ions/cm² have been implanted into YBa₂Cu₃O_x. After annealed at 800°C, the resistance of the new Y-Ba-Cu-F-O compound drops to zero at 148.5K.     

Pd addition in high Tc YBaCuO oxide

A small amount of Pd addition increases T_c for the YBa₂Cu₃O_7−y oxide. The maximum offset, midpoint and onset temperatures of the YBa₂(Cu_0.999Pd_0.001)₃O_7−y oxide are 92.1, 95.0 and 105 K, respectively. Excess addition of Pd decreases T_c. The T_c change is consistent with the results of the lattice constants.     

Compositionally dependent superconducting transition temperature of YBaCu oxides

The superconducting transition temperatures of a family of YBaCu oxides have been explored by dc resistivity measurements. Substitutions of magnetic and non-magnetic ions on Y, Ba and Cu sites are reported. For some compositions, achieving high superconducting transition temperatures is strongly dependent on growth conditions for the material.     

Zero resistance above 90K in superconducting oxides ErBaCuO and YbBaCuO

Superconductivity transition has been observed by electrical resistance and a.c. magnetic susceptibility measurements in ErBaCuO and YbBaCuO systems. The highest T_c(ϱ=0) is 90.3K for ErBaCuO and 91K for YbBaCuO.     

Electron diffraction and electron microscopic study of BaYCuO superconducting materials

Electron microscopy and electron diffraction have been applied to show that the orthorhombic phase in the compound Ba₂YCu₃O_7−δ is responsible for the high superconducting transition temperature. A positive correlation is found between the volume fration of the orthorhombic phase and the superconducting transition temperature. By means of an “in-situ” heating experiment it is found that the orthorhombic phase is formed on cooling from a high temperature tetragonal phase with disordered vacancies. It is suggested that the low temperature tetragonal phase that occurs in the same specimens as the orthorhombic phase also contains an ordered arrangement of vacancies different from that present in the orthorhombic phase. The order-disorder transition associated with the structural vacancies is shown to be reversible, provided there has been no oxygen loss.     

Superconductivity in the LnBaCuO system (Ln = Y,Ho, Er)

Superconductivity around 90K is observed in mixed and single phase system of LnBaCuO (Ln = Y, Ho, Er). Resistivity, X-ray powder diffraction and AC susceptibility measurements were carried out on samples of the mixed phase systems Ln_2−xBa_xCuO_4−y (Ln = Ho, Er), Y_1.2Ba_0.8Cu_1+xO_4+x−y(0<x<5) and single phase system Ba₂LnCu₃O₇ (Ln = Y, Ho, Er). Ln_2−xBa_xCuO_4−y consists of Ba₂LnCu₃O₇, BaCuLn₂O₅, Cu₂Ln₂O₅ and starting materials and shows a small diamagnetic signal below T_c in the temperature dependent AC susceptibility. Y_1.2Ba_0.8Cu_1+xO_4+x−y is a mixture of Ba₂YCu₃O₇, BaCuY₂O₅ and CuO and also indicates a small diamagnetic signal at 92K. Interesting resistivity anomalies occur in the Y_1.2Ba_0.8Cu₄O_7−y and Ho_0.8Ba_1.2CuO_4−y composites including large drops in the resistivity at ∼220 and ∼120K, respectively. The pure compounds, Ba₂LnCu₃O₇ (Ln = Y, Ho, Er) show sharp resistive superconducting transitions and bulk Meissner effects of 90%.     

High Tc superconductivity of a TlBaCaCuO compound

A TlBaCaCuO_4.5+x compound has been investigated from the point of view of superconductivity. Depending on the heat treatment, one part of the samples exhibits superconductivity with an onset of 121 K and a zero resistivity of 106 K, while the other part of them shows only a sharp drop in resistivity at 130 K which hints at the existence of superconducting domains. This picture was confirmed by magnetic and ESR measurements giving possibility for estimation of the critical magnetic fields.     

The superconductivity,structure and microstructure of BaYScCu oxides

We added small amount of Sc (0.05–0.35at.%) to BaYCu oxide and found that the superconductivity deteriorated drastically when the Sc content reached 0.325at.%. X-ray and electron diffraction showed that the orthorhombic perovskite structure changed to multi-phase structure with unidentified phases. The microstructures observed by TEM are of needle like morphology. Their phases are not yet identified.     

Study of the crystalline structure of the superconducting phase of the YBaCuO ceramic compound

We present the results of a study of the crystalline structure of the high-temperature superconducting (above 110K) phase in the single-phase ceramic compounds YBaCuO. We have concluded that the crystal symmetry of this HTS phase with chemical composition Y_1.2Ba_0.8CuO_4−δ is orthorhombic type with crystallographic lattice constants a=0.3815 nm, b=0.3457 nm, c=2.650 nm.     

Study of inverse a.c. Josephson effect in Y–Ba–Cu–O and Y–8a–Sr–Cu–O

Microwave induced d.c. voltage due to inverse a.c. Josephson effect has been observed across bulk samples of Y-Ba-Cu-O and Y-Ba-Sr-Cu-O. The d.c. voltage is found to vary with microwave power, frequency and also with small external magnetic fields. Although the resistivity curve of Y-Ba-Cu-O does not show any appreciable resistance drop around 230 K, the microwave induced d.c. voltage due to the inverse a.c. Josephson effect has been found to exist upto 230 K. The resistivity behaviour of Y-Ba-Sr-Cu-O shows a sharp resistivity drop above 230 K. In this sample the inverse Josephson effect is found to exist upto +26 °C, indicating the presence of a phase having a superconducting onset around this temperature.     

Crack reduction in a large bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductor through liquid binder addition

We have studied the effects of the incorporation of polyvinyl acetate (PVA) aqueous solution on the formability of the precursor Y–Ba–Cu–O samples with the aim of improving the mechanical properties of large bulk RE–Ba–Cu–O superconductors that are susceptible to cracking. We found that the green compacts of YBa₂Cu₃O_y and Y₂BaCuO₅ powders added with PVA liquid binder exhibited good mechanical properties and could be mechanically machined without defects. We could successfully drill 17 holes of 1 mm diameter into the green compact. The drilled samples were subjected to melt-processing and oxygen annealing, and further characterized with microstructural observations and magnetization measurements. The results showed that liquid binder addition was very effective in reducing cracks for large melt-processed Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors.     

Enhancement of mechanical strength in Y–Ba–Cu–O bulk superconductor through liquid binder addition

We have studied the effects of the liquid binder (polyvinyl alcohol) addition (0–10 wt%) on the mechanical properties of the green compacts and also on the superconducting properties of bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O superconductors of 20 mm diameter produced with the top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) process. The mechanical properties of the green compacts with binder addition were characterized with the compression tests, which revealed that mechanical strength increased dramatically with increasing the amount of the binder addition. The binder-added green compacts were then subjected to the TSMG process and oxygen annealing. The trapped field measurements showed that we could produce single-grain bulk Y–Ba–Cu–O samples with binder additions up to 8 wt% without any deterioration in the superconducting properties.     

Critical temperature and orthorhombicity of Y2Ba4Cu7O15−δ

Superconducting properties have been systematically studied for oxygen content controlled Y₂Ba₄O₇O_15?δ (Y247) polycrystalline bulks sintered under various conditions, 940–975 °C and P(O₂) = 4–16 atm. T_c of oxygen annealed Y247 samples at 400 °C varied largely depending on the sintering conditions from ～60 to ～90 K. Samples sintered under higher P(O₂) exhibited lower T_c, whereas they were confirmed to be of Y247 single phase by powder X-ray analyses. Strong relationship between orthorhombicity defined as 1000(b ? a)/(a + b) and T_c was found in Y247 as in the cases of REBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ with light rare-earth elements, such as La, Nd, Sm, Eu and Gd. In addition, T_c‘s of samples with nominal compositions of Y_2+xBa_4?xO₇O_15?δ systematically decreased with an increase of x. These results indicated that partial substitution of Y for Ba occurred in the Y247 compounds possibly due to high occupancy ratio of oxygen at the Cu–O_1-δ chain during the sintering process.     

High-Temperature superconductivity in the Y–Ba–Cu–O system

High-temperature superconductivity in the Y-Ba-Cu-O system has been discussed with special reference to the identification and characterization of the pure monophasic compound responsible for the superconductivity. The crucial role of oxygen has been examined in the light of the structure and thermogravimetric analysis.     

The effect of Sc on the superconductivity of the BaYCu oxides

The oxide compounds of Ba_0.6Y_0.4−xSc_xCu (x=0.05−0.35) have been prepared. It was found that the superconducting transition temperatures of the samples vary with the contents of Sc and when Sc>0.325, the samples become nonsuperconducting.     

Seebeck-effect in the mixed state of Y−Ba−Cu−O

We report on measurements of the Seebeck-effect, the Nernst-effect, and the magnetoresistance in the mixed state of ac-axis oriented expitaxial film of Y–Ba–Cu–O. In contrast to conventional superconductors we find a large Seebeck-coefficientS, which is comparable in magnitude to the Nernst-effect. The broadening of the super-conducting transitions of magnetoresistance and Seebeck-effect are rather similar with respect to (1) the temperature dependence, (2) the dependence on the direction between magnetic field and crystal axis and (3) the dependence on the direction between magnetic field and driving forces. The large Seebeck-effect has to be attributed to dissipation due to normal quasiparticle-excitations, since the vortex-contribution to the Seebeck-effect is by far too small to account for the observed magnitude ofS. It is argued that such a quasiparticle contribution to the dissipation is large in the high-T _c superconductors because of the small coherence lengths and thus the small vortex cores. Another possibility is that granularity leads to dissipation proportional to the normal state transport properties. The Seebeck-voltage depends on all dissipative processes other than vortex motion, whereas the Nernst-effect depends only on the vortex motion. Therefore by measurements of thermomagnetic effects the various dissipative properties may be separated.     

Superconductivity above 100 K in multi-phase Y−Ba−Cu−O

We report the synthesis, characterization and superconducting temperature of high-temperature superconducting Y_0.3Ba_0.7CuO₃, Y_0.4Ba_0.6CuO₃ and Y_1.2Ba_0.8CuO₄. The volume fraction of the superconducting phase is estimated to be of the order of 10%.HighT _c superconductivity withT _c -onsets up to 125 K (midpoint 102 K, zero resistance: 90 K) is observed in multi-phase Y–Ba–Cu–O oxygen defect compounds with the nominal composition of Y_1.2Ba_0.8CuO_4–y (0y0.4).     

Superconductivity of LaMCuO system (MBa,Sr and Ca

Superconductivity of the compounds of LaMCuO system with K₂NiF₄ type structure has been studied. For the sintered compounds with MBa, Sr and Ca, the highest onset transition temperatures, T_ci, estimated from resistivity measurement are about 36.9K, 43.0K and 23.5K, respectively and the highest temperatures where the resistivity vanishes, T_cf, are about 27.8K, 34.0K and 15.5K, respectively. Almost complete Meissner effect has been confirmed by low frequency ac susceptibility measurement. Crystals of the compounds with MBa and Sr have been prepared. As the result of the preliminary experiment for a crystal with Ba, it is found that T_cf of the crystal is higher than any one of the sintered specimens with MBa, while the T_ci of the crystal is nearly the same as the highest one of the sintered specimens.