Can the effective pinning potential of MgB2 behave logarithmically in the high temperature range?

The pinning potential barrier U_o(T,H) is the main parameter describing the flux pinning of MgB₂. Comparing the experimental results published recently by Thompson et al. and Bygoslavsky et al., one can prove theoretically that in the high temperature range, U_o(T,H) is of logarithmic form similar to that suggested for high T_c superconductors by Zeldov et al.. Meanwhile, the major pinning centers of MgB₂ employ the planar pinning mechanism. Furthermore, it is found that U_o(T,H) depends on the temperature linearly and also on the magnetic field with the form H^−1∼−2 at high temperature range.     

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 crystal with a region of periodic blind antidots – transition between bulk and interface vortex pinning

This work focuses on differential magneto-optical two-dimensional imaging of the current distribution in a high-T_c superconducting Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈ crystal having a region of 170 × 170 μm² patterned with periodic blind antidots. By measuring the self-induced field of an applied current, we can map the current flow distribution within and at the edges of the patterned region. We detected three separate types of current flow within the patterned region, which correspond to three different arrangements of pancake vortices within and at the edges of the patterned region. At high temperatures the vortices delocalize from the antidots, presumably due to thermal fluctuations. However, at lower temperatures vortex pinning mechanisms become prominent, lowering the vortex mobility in the patterned region. There are two contributing mechanisms: bulk pinning by the patterned antidots and interface pinning due to an entry barrier into the patterned region. Each mechanism is dominant at different temperatures. From our experiments we see that the T–H transition line from the bulk to the interface pinning and the vortex melting line in the pristine region coincide.     

杂质对K2ZnCl4晶体无公度结构相变的影响

对K₂ZnCl₄铁电晶体在无公度-公度转变的相变点附近的孤子行为进行了研究。发现在相变点附近杂质使介电函数明显偏离居里-外斯定律,并导致介电峰值的明显下降;同时还发现杂质对升温相变点T_c^h较之对降温相变点T_c^c有更大的影响,这与Rb₂ZnCl₄等晶体中的情况恰好相反。采用朗道自由能理论可较好地描述杂质在相变点附近对介电函数的影响。分 关键词：     

Yba2Cu3O7-δ不可逆线与钉扎势的关联

本文分别测量了熔融织构YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ高温超导体不可逆线与钉扎势U₀,发现该样品的不可逆线在温区72—85K范围内呈指数形式B^*-e^(-T*/T_c)函数关系,而且在温度77K,不可逆线并不能与磁测量临界电流密度J_c=0相对应,我们认为高温超导体的不可逆线的函数形式与样品的钉扎势紧密关联。 关键词：     

Determination of the critical current density and the flux pinning force in single crystals YBa2Cu3O7-δ from the magnetization hysteresis cycles

In this study, the magnetization measurements have been performed on high-temperature superconductor's single crystals YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ at large ranges of temperature T (15-85 K) and in magnetic fields up to 6T at different values of the angle θ between the applied magnetic field and c-axis. The critical current density Jc deduced from the magnetic hysteresis loops by the Bean formula for H parallel to the c-axis (θ=0°), our results have shown that the critical current density Jc was strongly dependent on the applied magnetic field. The pinning force Fp=Jc×μ₀H was determined from magnetization for H//c, however, a plot of the normalized pinning force density fp= Fp/Fpmax as a function of the reduced magnetic field h= H/Hirr at different temperatures have shown good scaling with the form fp ~h^p(1-h)^q, where p and q are scaling parameters. We also found that the point pinning is more dominant than surface pinning under high temperatures.     

Hysteresis phenomena in charging of Si Mosfet in quantizing magnetic field

We report the observation of nonequilibrium processes of charging in 2D electron layer in Si MOSFET. There were investigated the hysteresis variations of a 2D-layer charge Q_S with a gate voltage V_g or with a magnetic field H, and the hysteresis of a gate potential U_g vs magnetic field at Q_S = Const. At sufficiently low temperature T < 1K the relaxation time of a nonequilibrium state is much higher than 10³ sec. The observed phenomena may be explained qualitatively in frame of a surface potential randomness conception.     

Cluster glass behaviour in Co0.2Zn0.8Fe2−xRhxO4(x=0–1.0)

We report the low field magnetic behaviour of Zn- and Rh-substituted Co ferrite by AC susceptibility, DC magnetization, hysteresis measurement and relaxation experiment. The present system is a cubic spinel, where 80% of A site is diluted by non-magnetic Zn²⁺ and B site is consequently diluted by non-magnetic Rh³⁺ substitution in place of Fe³⁺. The Rh substitution reduces antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between B site Fe³⁺ ions and destroys the ferrimagnetic nature of the Co_0.2Zn_0.8Fe₂O₄ system. On diluting the B site moments, the system shows a typical cluster freezing phenomena at T⩽T_f due to frustration effect. We propose a zero field cooled relaxation technique that can easily identify the mixture of small frustrated clusters or spins along with the strongly coupled clusters. It has been observed from the field dependence of DC magnetization that for x=1.0, there is a crossover from de Almeida–Thouless (AT)-like line to Gabay–Toulouse (GT)-like line at the freezing temperature.     

Low field anomaly in magnetization curves

We present a calculation of the isothermal magnetization hysteresis curves appropriate to highT _csuperconductors. We discuss the nature of the low field anomaly as one goes from this strong pinning case to the weak pinning case. We show that the shape of the equilibrium (thermodynamic) magnetization curve is recovered in the limit ofJ _capproaching zero.     

Spatial fluctuations of the order parameter and the peak effect in type-II superconductors

Near H_c2 even weak crystal inhomogeneities may lead to large relative fluctuations of |ψ|², to large flux line displacements, and to a volume pinning force quadratic in the pinning potential.     

YBa2Cu3O7-δ外延薄膜的有效钉扎势

在0—7T磁场范围内，测量了不同测量电流密度下YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ外延薄膜的电阻温度关系.实验结果表明，临界温度以下，混合态的耗散电阻率能很好地用热激活磁通蠕动描述.有效钉扎势的电流密度关系遵守Zeldov等人提出的对数关系，有效钉扎势的温度和磁场关系遵守U∝(1-T/T_c)H^-α关系，其中α=0.63，与热激活磁通点阵位错运动模型相一致，表明样品具有2D涡旋性质. 关键词：     

Reduced exchange coupling and hysteresis loops in two-phased magnetic nanosystem

The reduced exchange coupling has been incorporated in our micromagnetic calculations for the hysteresis loops of Nd₂Fe₁₄B/α-Fe and Sm₄₀Fe₆₀/Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ multilayers. Analysis shows that nucleation and pinning fields are sensitive to the value of the interface coupling constant Jⁱ when the soft layer thickness L^s is small. Hysteresis loops have been obtained for a trilayer system with a soft α-Fe sandwiched between two Nd₂Fe₁₄B layers for different values of L^s and Jⁱ. As Jⁱ decreases, nucleation field decreases while the pinning field increases. In the meantime, the squareness of the loops is deteriorated, which results in smaller energy product. For thick soft layer the coercivity mechanism transforms from pinning to nucleation as the interface coupling decreases, and vice versa. The above calculations have been extended to a Sm₄₀Fe₆₀/Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ bilayer and compared with available experimental data. The theoretical loop is consistent with the experimental one when the value of Jⁱ is taken as 10% of the bulk one, demonstrating that the interface coupling in the experiment is far away from perfect coupling.     

垂直取向Nd2Fe14B/α-Fe磁性三层膜的磁化反转

运用微磁学方法结合物质参数探究了垂直取向Nd₂Fe₁₄B/α-Fe磁性三层膜的磁化反转过程,计算出成核场、钉扎场以及磁滞回线随Ｌ^s（软磁相厚度）的变化,并与相关的实验和理论数据进行比较.由于考虑了退磁能量项,垂直取向的成核场比平行取向时低,在外磁场还没有反向时就发生了成核.随着软磁相厚度的增加,理论矫顽力从等于成核场（同时也等于钉扎场）,到等于钉扎场,再到小于钉扎场,矫顽力机理由成核变为钉扎. 关键词： 成核场 钉扎场 矫顽力 磁滞回线     

Non-resonant microwave absorption studies of superconducting MgB2 and MgB2 + MgO

Non-resonant microwave absorption (NRMA) studies of superconducting MgB₂ and a sample containing ∼10% by weight of MgO in MgB₂ are reported. The NRMA results indicate near absence of intergranular weak links in the pure MgB₂ sample. A linear temperature dependence of the lower critical field H _c1 is observed indicating a non-s wave superconductivity. However, the phase reversal of the NRMA signal which could suggest d wave symmetry is also not observed. In the MgB₂ + MgO sample, much larger low field dependent absorption is observed indicating the presence of intergranular weak links. The hysteretic behavior of NRMA is compared and contrasted in the two samples. In the pure MgB₂ sample, a large hysteresis is observed between the forward and the reverse scans of the magnetic field indicating strong pinning of flux lines. This hysteresis saturates a few degrees below T _c while in the MgB₂ + MgO sample, a much slower increase of hysteresis with decreasing temperature is observed, a signature of weaker pinning.     

Vortex pinning in YBa2Cu3O7?x films

Evidence that pinning on linear or planar defects dominates the vortex dynamics in YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x (YBCO) films is provided by complex impedance measurements at temperature 8 K<T<T _c and magnetic field 0<B<6 T. Below the vortex lattice melting transition B_g(T) but above a threshold field B_p≈8(1-T/T _c ) T, the inductance of vortices increases as B², much less rapidly than predicted for collective pinning of vortices by point defects. Above the vortex melting line, critical scaling persists over the region B_g(T<B<B^*(T) where the vortex correlation length ξ exceeds a characteristic length scale ξ^*≡ξ(B=B^*)≈450?. The value of ξ^* is not sensitive to Al-doping in the Cu sites in the lattice and is close to the size of twin domains in the film. The nature of the observed crossovers is discussed in terms of available theoretical models for a glass-liquid transition at B_g.     

Anomalous magnetization jumps in granular Pb superconducting films

In granular superconductors, the grain boundaries are closely related to the vortex dynamics and the macroscopic superconducting properties. In our research, Pb films with different grain sizes were prepared by tuning the substrate temperature. With the grain size decreasing, Pb films are prone to feature the anomalous magnetization jumps in the M − T curves, while in the M − H curves flux avalanche happens. Both phenomena appear in the same region of the H − T phase diagram and thus are considered to have the same origin. The further theoretical analysis shows that with grain size decreasing the pinning mechanism evolves from a mixed δT_c and δl pinning to the δl pinning mechanism. The results shed light on the study of pinning mechanism for granular superconductors and is beneficial to the potential application of manipulating vortex pinning by regulation of intrinsic defects.     

Fe2+ spin transition in [Fe(trz)(Htrz)2](BF4) as evidenced by a variable temperature EPR study

The EPR of Fe³⁺ ions has been used for the first time to evidence a low-spin (S=0) to high-spin (S=2) transition of Fe²⁺ ions in an octahedral ferrous complex [Fe(trz)(Htrz)₂](BF₄). The temperature dependence of the intensity of the Fe³⁺ EPR line atg=4.3 reveals a spin transition which occurs for the Fe²⁺ ions, with hysteresis. The transition temperatures areT _c↑=374 K in the warming mode andT _c↓=345 K in the cooling mode. The analysis of the EPR spectral data indicates the presence of a structural phase transition accompanying the spin transition.     

Correlated vortex pinning in Si-nanoparticle doped MgB2

The magnetoresistivity and critical current density of well characterized Si-nanoparticle doped and undoped Cu-sheathed MgB₂ tapes have been measured at temperatures T≥28 K in magnetic fields B≤0.9 T. The irreversibility line B_irr(T) for doped tape shows a stepwise variation with a kink around 0.3 T. Such B_irr(T) variation is typical for high-temperature superconductors with columnar defects (a kink occurs near the matching field B_?) and is very different from a smooth B_irr(T) variation in undoped MgB₂ samples. The microstructure studies of nanoparticle doped MgB₂ samples show uniformly dispersed nanoprecipitates, which probably act as a correlated disorder. The observed difference between the field variations of the critical current density and pinning force density of the doped and undoped tape supports the above findings.     

Intrinsic low field susceptibility in pseudobinary DyxY1−&gt;x&gt;Al2andTbxGd1−xAl2 cubic intermetallic compounds

Low field (H_ac ≈ 3.5 x 10^-6T) and low frequency (15 Hz) ac susceptibilities, χ_i, have been measured between 3.3 K and well above the Curie temperatures, for the intermetallic Laves phase compounds Dy_xY_1-xAl₂ and Tb_xGd_1-xAl₂. It is concluded that χ_i is, at low enough temperatures, dominated by the domain wall excursions around the minima of the anisotropy Peierls potential wells. The derived model relation χ_i(T)H_c⁽ⁱ⁾(T) = const., where H_c⁽ⁱ⁾ is the intrin sic pinning coercive field, is confirmed at low enough temperatures. The shape of the observed susceptibility cusps around the Curie temperatures in the series Dy_xY_1-xAl₂ (x 0.35) suggests that these systems are magnetically inhomogenous. The magnetic domain sizes estimated from these measurements seem quite small (between around 0.01 and 0.1 μm).     

Modeling of two-phase magnetic materials based on Jiles-Atherton theory of hysteresis

The Jiles-Atherton (JA) theory of hysteresis has been extended in the present paper to model hysteresis in two-phase magnetic materials. Two-phase materials are those that exhibit two magnetic phases in one hysteresis cycle: one at lower fields and the other at higher fields. In magnetic hysteresis, the transition from one phase to the other i.e. low field phase to high field phase depends mainly on the exchange field. Hence, the material-dependent microstructural parameters of JA theory: spontaneous magnetization, M_S, pinning factor, k, domain density, a, domain coupling, α, and reversibility factor, c, are represented as functions of the exchange field. Several cases based on this model have been discussed and compared with the measured data from existing literature. The shapes of the calculated and measured hysteresis loops are in excellent agreement.     

Photo-induced enhancement of charge density wave current in the quasi-one-dimensional conductor TaS3

In the near vicinity of Peierls transition temperature T_P, we have measured the V-I characteristics of the quasi-one-dimensional conductor TaS₃ under dark and photo-irradiation conditions. It is found that a significant enhancement of CDW current occurs only around the threshold voltage V_t under photo-irradiation. This effect can be interpreted as a result of screening of pinning potential for CDW condensate by photo-excited quasi-particles (QP's). Further the distribution of pinning potential intensity is reflected in the behavior of V-I characteristics near V_t. Our finding suggests that the strength of pinning potential can be controlled by the photo-excited QP's in quasi-1D conductors.