The flux distribution and hysteresis losses in highT c superconductors including viscous forces on flux lines

By comparing the contributions of pinning and viscous forces to the restoring force on flux ines in type II and highT _c superconductors, it is shown that the flux flow in highT _c superconducto rs should play an important role in determining the magnetic flux distribution and hence the hyste resis losses in a.c. fields. Both quantities are calculated in the extreme case of very large viscous forces with respect to the pinning force. The magnetic field and frequency dependence of the losses are changed with respect to the results obtained from the critical state model. The theoretical results are qualitatively confirmed by a.c. susceptibility measurements at different magnetic field amplitudes and frequencies. The quantitative differences indicate that the flux flow effects in highT _c superconductors are by far not so strong as expected and supposed by some theories. The reasons for these discrepancies are discussed.     

On the penetration of the magnetic field into a superconductor

It is known that in superconductors the exponential decay of the magnetic field is an approximation, which breaks down if the dimension of a Cooper pair ξ _f is of the order or smaller than the London penetration depth δ. The appearance of a nonlocal relation between current and field yields deviations from the exponential decay especially a sign reversal of the field at a certain distance. This sign reversal is connected with a change: of the surface energy in superconductors and of the structure of fluxoids together with their interaction. In this paper we present results on the decay of magnetic field which is calculated from the exact BCS-integral-kernel for weak fields. As a result, the nonlocal effects in the framework of BCS-theory can be described in good approximation by the ratio of the London penetration depth δ(T, l) and the dimension of Cooper pairs ξ _f (T, l). The evaluations show, that one has still sign reversal, i.e. large nonlocal effects, in Type II superconductors with a κ(T _c )?,1.6. It should be mentioned that the limit κ?1.6 coincides roughly with the experimentally observed region of attraction of fluxoids. In addition results on the penetration depths are summarized.     

Theoretical studies on magnetic superconductors

The discovery of magnetic superconductors has posed the problem of the coexistence of two kinds of orders (magnetic and superconducting) in some temperature intervals in these systems. New microscopic mechanisms developed by us to explain the coexistence and reentrant behaviour are reported. The mechanism for antiferromagnetic superconductors which shows enhancement of superconductivity below the magnetic transition is found relevant for rare-earth systems having less than half-filled f-atomic shells. The theory will be compared with the experimental results of SmRh₄B₄ system. A phenomenological treatment based on a generalized Ginzburg-Landau approach will also be presented to explain the anomalous behaviour of the second critical field in some antiferromagnetic superconductors. These magnetic superconductors provide two kinds of Bose fields, namely, phonons and magnons which interact with each other and also with the conduction electrons. Theoretical studies of the effects of the excitations of these modes on superconducting pairing and magnetic ordering in these systems will be discussed.     

Physical processes in high-temperature superconductors at the interface between the vortex-filled and meissner regions

A technique has been proposed for investigating the magnetic microstate of high-temperature superconductors with a simultaneous analysis of the crystalline microstate of the sample with the aim of elucidating the specific features of the interaction between the crystalline and magnetic microstructures of polycrystalline high-temperature superconductors. Qualitatively new results have been obtained for samples with different microstructures. In particular, it has been found that the magnetic field dependences of the trapped magnetic flux density B _tr(H ₀) of polycrystalline and epitaxial films of high-temperature superconductors exhibit regular steps for both increasing and decreasing magnetic fields. The obtained results have demonstrated that, in strong magnetic fields, the studied epitaxial films, as well as bulk and thin-film polycrystalline high-temperature superconductors, “break down” into single domains, crystallites, and subcrystallites with different demagnetization factors. It has been revealed that the dependences B _tr(H ₀) also exhibit steps due to the simultaneous penetration of vortices into crystallites of approximately the same sizes and into more regularly arranged subcrystallites. As the quality of the samples increases, these steps become more pronounced because of the increase in the short-range order. The absence of steps in the dependence B _tr(H ₀) of the polycrystalline bulk samples clearly demonstrates the absence of long-range order in these samples. It is the vitreousness of the crystallographic microstructure of high-temperature superconductors which is responsible for the observed transformations in the vortex system. The similarity of the results obtained for samples with different microstructures indicates that the penetration (escape), distribution, and trapping of the magnetic flux in these samples occur through a universal mechanism. It has been found that the polycrystalline high-temperature superconductors are actually multi-step rather than two-step systems. It has been shown that the vitreousness of the microstructure of high-temperature superconductors and the presence of close-packed twin boundaries in samples lead to the penetration of a magnetic flux in the form of hypervortices into the sample and cause the formation of a superconducting glass state on a different physical basis as compared to the Ebner-Stroud model of a granulated glass.     

A.C. loss and related effects in type II superconductors

This review gathers together information important to the understanding of superconducting materials under a.c. conditions, and points out some features which are at present not too well understood. The idea is to try to build a consistent picture of the performance of superconductors rather than to present a historical account of the subject.

The basic behaviour of fluxons in the bulk of type II superconductors can be explained by the critical state model, but some of the details of flux pinning and the method of flux motion are in doubt. Flux instabilities under d.c. conditions have received a lot of attention and so have the methods of stabilization, but instabilities under a.c. conditions have not been studied in so much detail, and the problem of stabilization is more difficult than for f.c.

Generally surface effects are less well understood than bulk effects, partly because there are a number of possible phenomena to contend with. A.C. loss in the Meissner state can be explained by field enhancement and flux penetration at peaks in the surface. For fields between H _c3 and H _c2 present solutions of the Ginzburg-Landau equations for the currents in the surface sheath do not give sufficient agreement with experiment and some alternative explanation, such as flux pinning, may be necessary. There are a number of effects between H _c2 and H _c1, but the most important are Meissner currents and flux pinning.     

Electron spin resonance in superconducting materials

The ESR of Gd in the superconducting phase of the type II superconductors CeRu₂ and LaOs₂ shows a shift for the field for resonance and inhomogeneous broadening of the lineshape. Both effects strongly depend on the three different microwave frequencies (resp. magnetic fields). The broadening of max. 800 G is attributed to a non resolved finestructure splitting. The local field distribution in vortex state of these type II superconductors is less than 100 G and is the main contribution for shift of the field for resonance. In addition ESR results of Gd and Eu doped into La are discussed forT >T _c. The comparison of depression of the superconducting transition temperature and exchange spin-flip scattering rate determined from ESR shows a perfect agreement.     

Electron spin resonance in superconducting materials

The ESR of Gd in the superconducting phase of the type II superconductors CeRu₂ and LaOs₂ shows a shift for the field for resonance and inhomogeneous broadening of the lineshape. Both effects strongly depend on the three different microwave frequencies (resp. magnetic fields). The broadening of max. 800 G is attributed to a non resolved finestructure splitting. The local field distribution in vortex state of these type II superconductors is less than 100 G and is the main contribution for shift of the field for resonance. In addition ESR results of Gd and Eu doped into La are discussed forT >T _c. The comparison of depression of the superconducting transition temperature and exchange spin-flip scattering rate determined from ESR shows a perfect agreement.     

The effects of composition and atomic ordering on superconductivity in the systems Nb3Ga and V3Ga

The strongly different variation of the superconducting transition temperature, T_c, observed from the A15 type compounds V₃Ga and Nb₃Ga as a function of the heat treatment has been correlated with the precise shapes of their corresponding phase fields at the vicinity of the stoichiometric composition. The change in T_c for V₃Ga is related to LRO effects only, while combined compositional and LRO effects are present in the case of Nb₃Ga. These two contributions, which have been separated in the present work, determine the behavior of all high T_c superconductors of the A15 phase.     

Model of superconducting domains––a unified theory of high- and low-Tc superconductors

A unified model of the superconducting mechanism has been put forward. The model suits not only to high-T_c but also to low-T_c superconductors. It is found that there are superconducting domains (SD) in crystal. When T⩽T_c, all the SD’s in the whole crystal are connected with one another. We have obtained the formula of T_c. On the basis of the formula and theory of quantum mechanics, the different behaviours of isotopic effects in low- and high-T_c superconductors as well as C₆₀, the triangular peak of T_c of transition metals, Matthias rules, and other effects are explained. New superconductors with higher T_c are predicted.     

Chemomagnetism,magnetoconcentration effect,and “fishtail” anomaly in chemically induced granular superconductors

Within a 2D model of Josephson junction arrays (created by a 2D network of twin boundary dislocations with strain fields acting as an insulating barrier between hole-rich domains in underdoped crystals), a few novel effects expected to occur in intrinsically granular material are predicted, including (i) Josephson chemomagnetism (chemically induced magnetic moment in zero applied magnetic field) and its influence on a low-field magnetization (chemically induced paramagnetic Meissner effect) and (ii) the magnetoconcentration effect (creation of oxygen vacancies in applied magnetic field) and its influence on a high-field magnetization (the chemically induced analogue of the “fishtail” anomaly). The conditions under which these effects can be experimentally measured in nonstoichiometric high-T_c superconductors are discussed.     

Simulation study of the anomalous Hall effect in high-T c superconductors

Including influence of the thermal fluctuation on flux motion in the Wang-Ting model, we use the numerical simulation method to investigate the anomalous Hall effect in high-T _c superconductors. The negative Hall resistivity has still been found in a certain range of temperature at low magnetic fields, which is qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations. Our results support the view point that the negative Hall effect is caused, most probably, by the flux motion with the pinning.     

Fluctuation induced magneto-conductivity studies in YBa2Cu3O7−δ + xBaZrO3 composite high-Tc superconductors

Fluctuations on the electrical conductivity of polycrystalline YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ + xBaZrO₃ (x = 1.0, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 wt.%) superconductors were investigated from the resistivity vs. temperature data for zero field and 8 T (Tesla) external magnetic fields. Attempts have been made to identify the optimum inclusion of BaZrO₃ (BZO) in YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ (YBCO) superconductors. The phase formation, texture and grain alignments were analyzed by XRD and SEM techniques. Then the effects of superconducting fluctuations on the electrical conductivity of granular composite superconductors were studied for zero field and 8 T external magnetic fields. Though inclusions of BZO sub-micron particles are not expected to influence superconducting order-parameter fluctuation (SCOPF) much, the transition from 2D to 3D of the order parameter in the mean-field region depends on the BZO content in the composites. It has been observed that BZO residing at the grain boundary of YBCO matrix influences the tailing region without having significant change in the mean-field critical temperature. In the present work, attention has been focused mostly in the experimental domain relatively above the T_c. It reveals that, 1 wt.% composite exhibits a better superconducting property in comparison with pure YBCO.     

Magnetic properties of superconductors studied by neutron depolarization

A new method is described which allows the study of the magnetic properties of superconductors. Measurements on various niobium and lead samples were taken to study the influence of surface conditions and lattice defects on the formation of the mixed and intermediate states. A strong dependence of flux penetration on surface conditions is found. AboveH _C1 the results indicate the formation of a disturbed flux line lattice. The influence of external fields present when the superconductor is cooled throughT _c is discussed and evidence for the intermediate state of type II superconductors is presented. Finally a simple model is used to evaluate the mean angle of deviation from the ideal lattice.     

纵向磁场中超导金属玻璃Zr78Co22的载流电阻态

在低于T_c较远的温度下,发现金属玻璃Zr₇₈Co₂₂带在纵向磁场中的I-V和H-V特性曲线上存在着两类电压跃变阶梯。与以往在准一维或准二维均匀超导体中发现的I-V曲线上出现阶梯结构的条件和特点作了系统的比较,综合应用超导相分离模型和由热涨落诱发的相位滑移中心的概念解释了所观察到的现象。 关键词：     

Critical currents of Nb3Sn and V3Ga in transverse magnetic fields up to 150000 oersteds

The quenching curves of some high-field superconductors have been measured for the first time in steady transverse magnetic fields up to 150 kOe. The quenching curves of Nb₃Sn diffusion-layers on single niobium wires show the same slope in the high-field region as they do in lower fields. On the other hand, the quenching curves of “Nb-Sn multiwires” with a synthetic filamentary structure of many interior Nb₃Sn diffusion-layers in the core of this material are nearly horizontal in the high-field region with very high critical current values. The quenching curves of V₃Ga diffusion-layers and of V₃Ga core-wires show an unexpected inversion at about 90 and 100 kOe respectively with increasing critical currents in higher fields.     

三重态双极化子的超导A相与B相

本文应用对称破缺的自洽Hartree近似讨论了三重态双极化子的超导A相和B相。在弱耦合的情况下,通过自由能的计算得到B相总比A相稳定;在强耦合的情况下,加入涨落反馈项可使得A相的自由能比B相的自由能低,或者发生A相到B相的转变,这和³He超流的情形类似。本文还精确计算了超导稳定相的热力学临界场H_c随温度的变化,并与重费密子超导体UBe₁₃,UPt₃和URi₂Si₂的上临界场作了比较,发现H_c能定性解释所有这些超导体的上临界场的反常温度特性。 关键词：     

Phase transitions in a MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript> granular BCS superconductor in weak magnetic fields

The character of temperature dependences of the electric conductivity of MgB₂ granular BCS superconductors at temperatures of ~35–45 K in external magnetic fields H _ext of up to ~2 kOe is studied. An increase in the superconducting transition width ΔT _c with an increase in Hext is found. The presence of a system of weak links in MgB₂-based granular superconductors is established. On the basis of experimental data, MgB₂ granular superconductor is assigned to two-level superconducting systems and the H–T phase diagram is constructed.     

Proposal for a particle accelerator driven by a far-infrared free-electron laser

We propose a scheme of particle accelerators driven by far-infrared free-electron lasers on the basis of oversized periodically or helically corrugated hollow waveguides with cooled walls of high-T_c superconductors. In this context, we discuss the basic principles of particle acceleration in periodic and helical hollow waveguides, the relevant modes and fields of these waveguides, attenuation and damage threshold in the waveguides assuming walls made of standard metals as well as high-T_c superconductors, and the energy gain of particles for two modes of coupling laser radiation into the waveguides.