Enhanced superconducting properties of Eu2O3-doped MgB2

Bulk polycrystalline samples of Eu₂O₃-doped MgB₂ have been synthesized by a standard solid state reaction route and their structural and superconducting properties have been investigated. As a function of Eu₂O₃ content we have found a significant increase in the critical current density (J_c) and the irreversibility field (H_irr) in the magnetic field range 0–6 T. The XRD results reveal the presence of MgO and EuB₆ secondary phases along with the main hexagonal phase of MgB₂. The strain values and the lattice distortions have been found to increase almost linearly with the nominal Eu₂O₃ content. The observed significant improvement in J_c(H) and H_irr in the Eu₂O₃-doped MgB₂ samples, thus is mainly attributed to the lattice distortions introduced by Eu₂O₃ doping.     

Enhancement of the upper critical field of MgB2 by carbon-doping

We have measured the temperature dependence of the upper critical field, H_c2(T), of carbon-doped MgB₂. H_c2(T) does not follow the well-known Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) result for a one-gap dirty superconductor but can be described well by the result of a recent theoretical calculation for a two-gap dirty superconductor. H_c2(0) of the carbon-doped material is determined to be between 29 and 38 T, substantially higher than that of pure MgB₂ (15-23 T).     

Physical property characterization of bulk MgB<Subscript>2</Subscript> superconductor

We report synthesis, structure/micro-structure, resistivity under magnetic field [ρ(T)H], Raman spectra, thermoelectric power S(T), thermal conductivity κ(T), and magnetization of ambient pressure argon annealed polycrystalline bulk samples of MgB₂, processed under identical conditions. The compound crystallizes in hexagonal structure with space group P6/mmm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals electron micrographs showing various types of defect features along with the presence of 3–4 nm thick amorphous layers forming the grain boundaries of otherwise crystalline MgB₂. Raman spectra of the compound at room temperature exhibited characteristic phonon peak at 600 cm^-1. Superconductivity is observed at 37.2 K by magnetic susceptibility χ(T), resistivity ρ(T), thermoelectric power S(T), and thermal conductivity κ(T) measurements. The power law fitting of ρ(T) give rise to Debye temperature (Θ_D) at 1400 K which is found consistent with the theoretical fitting of S(T), exhibiting Θ _D of 1410 K and carrier density of 3.81 × 10²⁸/m³. Thermal conductivity κ(T) shows a jump at 38 K, i.e., at T_c, which was missing in some earlier reports. Critical current density (J_c) of up to 10⁵ A/cm² in 1–2 T (Tesla) fields at temperatures (T) of up to 10 K is seen from magnetization measurements. The irreversibility field, defined as the field related to merging of M(H) loops is found to be 78, 68 and 42 kOe at 4, 10 and 20 K respectively. The superconducting performance parameters viz. irreversibility field (H_irr) and critical current density J_c(H) of the studied MgB₂ are improved profoundly with addition of nano-SiC and nano-diamond. The physical property parameters measured for polycrystalline MgB₂ are compared with earlier reports and a consolidated insight of various physical properties is presented.     

Effect of sorbic acid doping on flux pinning in bulk MgB2 with the percolation model

In this paper, we study the doping effect of sorbic acid (C₆H₈O₂), from 0 to 20 wt.% of the total MgB₂, on critical temperature (T_c), critical current density (J_c), irreversibility field (H_irr) and crystalline structure. The XRD patterns of samples show a slightly decrease in a-axis lattice parameter for doped samples, due to the partial substitution of carbon at boron site. On the other hand, we investigate the influence of doping on the behavior of flux pinning and J_c(B) in the framework of percolation theory and it is found that the J_c(B) behavior could be well fitted in high field region. The two key parameters, anisotropy and percolation threshold, play very important roles. It is believed that the enhancement of J_c is due to the reduction of anisotropy in high field region.     

Effect of C and SiC additions into in situ or mechanically alloyed MgB2 deformed in Ti sheath

Effect of 3.4 wt.% C and 5 wt.% SiC doping into the standard in situ (IN) process and mechanically alloyed (MA) MgB₂ was studied. Powders of IN and MA process were carried out in air and in argon filled glove box, respectively. Wire samples were prepared by two-axial rolling deformation of IN and MA powders inside the Ti tube. Titanium as sheath material allows to use higher sintering temperatures, we used 700 °C and 800 °C for 30 min in Argon. Critical current densities (J_c) were measured at variable temperatures 4.2 K, 10 K, 15 K and 20 K in the external magnetic fields ranging to 15 T. Critical temperatures, upper critical fields and irreversibility fields of IN and MA with SiC and C additions are compared and discussed. The highest transport properties were observed for wires with MA SiC doped MgB₂ in the whole scale of temperatures 4.2–20 K. Upper critical field was rapidly enhanced in the case of carbon doped MA samples at 4.2 K. MA samples have shown decreased J_c values for higher temperatures (15 K, 20 K), in some case even worse than for the not doped reference IN sample. Carbon substitution and grain connectivity of analyzed samples are compared and discussed. Presented results show that for 20 K applications some new ways (additions) have to be found for increasing the J_c substantially.     

Effect of polymers doping on flux pinning behavior of MgB2

The effects of polymers doping on irreversibility field (H_irr) and critical current density (J_c) of MgB₂ have been investigated in this work. It is found that both J_c, and H_irr, are improved by doping at relative lower temperature region. The J_c−B curves of all samples studied in this work are well fitted using J_c(B) formula in percolation model. The values of upper critical field anisotropy (γ) are obtained from the fitting result at various temperatures. It is observed that values of γ for polymers doping samples are reduced at these temperatures. This is considered to be responsible for the enhancement of values of J_c for doped samples. Moreover, the percolation threshold, p_c, is found to be enhanced with increasing temperature. It is believed that the grain boundary pinning is still dominating in MgB₂, while the deviation of experimental data from the theoretical values is due to the percolation of suppercurrent in polycrystalline MgB₂.     

Effect of heating rates on microstructure and superconducting properties of pure MgB2

The influence of different heating rates, ranging from 5 to 30 K min⁻¹, on the microstructure and superconducting of the MgB₂ bulk was investigated. No obvious variation in the grain size was found for the samples heated from 5 K min⁻¹ to 20 K min⁻¹ except for the changes in morphologies. Moreover, the grain refinement was obtained under the heating rate of 30 K min⁻¹. The critical current density (J_c) suggested that the 5 K min⁻¹ sample had the best performance in high field. Here, the differential thermal analysis (DTA) was employed to analyze the kinetics of MgB₂ phase formation with the different heating rates. The results showed that the large amount of MgB₂ formed at low temperature, which lead to compact structures under the slow heating rate. The fast heating rate would promote the evaporation of Mg at high temperature, which was considered to generate the vacancy and impurities in the sample.     

AC susceptibility and intergranular critical current density study in pure and Ag doped (La1−xYx)2Ba2CaCu5Oz superconductors

The temperature and AC field amplitude variations of AC susceptibility have been measured on pure and 5 wt% Ag doped (La_1−xY_x)₂Ba₂CaCu₅O_z superconductors. The AC susceptibility as a function of field have been analyzed using Kim's critical state model. The temperature dependence of intergranular critical current density and the effective volume fractions of the grains have been estimated. The Ag doped samples show relatively large critical current density due to the improved intergranular coupling. The exponent of temperature variation of critical current density suggests that the weak links form superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) type of junctions for all the samples.     

Pinning mechanism in carbon nanotube doping of MgB2 superconductor

MgB_1.9C_0.1 samples are synthesized under the ambient pressure (AP) and high pressure (HP), respectively. The further studies demonstrate different field-dependence of the critical current density J_c(H) in each sample. In the view of two-gap superconductivity in these samples, δT_c pinning (resulting from the spatial fluctuations of the transition temperature) is dominant in the AP sample, while in the HP sample, both δT_c and δl pinning (due to the mean-free-path fluctuations) act together and their contributions vary with temperature. Besides the improvement of H_c2(0), due to the different pinning mechanism, J_c(H) of the HP sample shows a slower decay with the increasing fields than that of the AP sample in high fields, which suggests a possible method of retarding the rapid decay of J_c(H) under elevated fields.     

EDXRF measurements on gold diffusion-doped Bi1.8Pb0.35Sr1.9Ca2.1Cu3Oy

Gold (Au) diffusion in superconducting Bi_1.8Pb_0.35Sr_1.9Ca_2.1Cu₃O_y was investigated over the temperature range 500-800 °C by the energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) technique. It is found that the Au diffusion coefficient decreases as the diffusion-annealing temperature decreases. The temperature dependences of Au diffusion coefficient in grains and over grain boundaries are described by the relations D₁=6.7×10⁻⁵exp(−1.19 eV/k_BT) and D₂=9.7×10⁻⁴exp(−1.09 eV/k_BT), respectively. The diffusion doping of Bi-2223 by Au causes a significant increase of the lattice parameter c by about 0.19%. For the Au-diffused samples, dc electrical resistivity and transport critical current density measurements indicated the critical transition temperature increased from 100 to 104 K and the critical current density increased from 40 to 125 A cm⁻², in comparison with those of undoped samples. From scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements it is observed that Au doping of the sample also improved the surface morphology and increased the ratio of the high-T_c phase to the low-T_c phase. The possible reasons for the observed improvement in microstructure and superconducting properties of the samples due to Au diffusion are also discussed.     

Electron-phonon interaction in NbB2: a comparison with MgB2

We present a comparison of electron-phonon interaction in NbB₂ and MgB₂, calculated using full-potential, density-functional-based methods in P6/mmm crystal structure. Our results, described in terms of (i) electronic structure, (ii) phonon density of states F(ω), (iii) Eliashberg function α²F(ω), and (iv) the solutions of the isotropic Eliashberg gap equation, clearly show significant differences in the electron-phonon interaction in NbB₂ and MgB₂. We find that the average electron-phonon coupling constant λ is equal to 0.59 for MgB₂ and 0.43 for NbB₂, leading to superconducting transition temperatures T_c at around 22 K for MgB₂ and 3 K for NbB₂.     

Effect of carbon doping on thermodynamic behavior of MgB2

The thermodynamic behavior of carbon doped MgB₂ has been studied using a rigid ion model (RIM). The model potential consists of the long-range Coulomb, the short-range repulsive and the van der Waals interactions. This model has successfully explained the cohesive and thermodynamic properties of Mg(B_1−xC_x)₂ (x=0.0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1, 0.2). The properties studied are the cohesive energy, molecular force constant, Restrahlen frequency, compressibility, Debye temperature and Gruneisen parameter. Our results on Restrahlen frequency and Debye temperature are in reasonably good agreement with the available experimental data. In addition, we have computed the specific heat C_p for Mg(B_1−xC_x)₂ (x=0.2) as a function of temperature T in the range 16 K?T?1000 K. We have also shown the variation of specific heat C_p with doping concentration at room temperature (300 K). The calculated specific heat C_p for Mg(B_1−xC_x)₂ (x=0.2) in the temperature range 16 K?T?22 K for which experimental results are available, agrees pretty well with the experimental data.     

Degradation of superconducting properties in MgB2 by Cu addition

The (MgB₂)_2−xCu_x (x=0-0.5) superconducting system was prepared by a solid-state reaction technique. Microstructural evolution and transport properties including resistivity versus temperature up to a magnetic field of 6 T, activation energy, thermoelectric power and Fermi energy, E_F, and the corresponding velocity, V_F, values of the samples prepared were also investigated. The XRD analysis showed a multiphase formation and no detectable solution of Cu in MgB₂. Two different impurity phases, MgCu₂ and CuB₂₄, have been identified and their peak intensity increased when the Cu concentration increased. The temperature dependence of the resistivity of the samples showed a metallic behavior down to T_c. But, for the Cu concentrations above 0.3 the superconducting phase transition completely disappeared. The magnetic field strongly affects the electrical properties. For x=0.0 samples, the transition is found to be sharp, ΔT∼1 K, but it becomes broader with increasing magnetic field and Cu concentration. The calculated values of carrier concentration, n, of the samples are showed a sharp decrease with increasing Cu content. For x=0.0 sample the n was calculated to be 12×10²¹ cm⁻³, but for the x=0.5 sample it decreased to 1.3×10²¹ cm⁻³. We found that the activation energy, U(B), decreased sharply with increasing magnetic field. According to thermoelectric power and Fermi energy, E_F, calculations the decrease of the carrier concentration by the additions of Cu into MgB₂ gives a decrease in E_F and this could be attributed to a shift of the Fermi level towards the top of the σ-hole band.     

Superconductivity in porous MgB2

Porous magnesium diboride samples have been prepared by the heat treatment of a pressed mixture of Mg and MgB₂ powders. It was found that linked superconducting structure is formed down to the minimum normalized density γ_c=d/d₀≅0.16 (percolation threshold), where d is the density of MgB₂ averaged over the sample, d₀=2.62 g/cm³ is the X-ray density. Lattice parameters and critical temperature of the porous sample decrease with increasing porosity (decreasing γ) and T_c2≅32 K is minimal at γ_c. The grain boundaries in the porous samples are transparent for the current and J_c∼3×10⁵ A/cm² in self field at T=20 K in the samples with γ∼0.24.     

AC response of vortices subjected to pinning by columnar defects in Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 epitaxial films

A micro-Hall-probe-based ac susceptometer is used to study the dynamics of vortices in Tl₂Ba₂CaCu₂O₈ (Tl-2212) epitaxial films with and without correlated disorder in a low field (<6 kG) and high temperature (T>60 K) regime. The Bean critical state model for a thin superconducting disc in perpendicular magnetic field is used to extract the critical current density of the films. The temperature and frequency dependence of the irreversibility field (B_irr) is compared for samples with and without the linear defects. The B_irr(T) curve shows a distinct discontinuity at B≈B_φ. The frequency dependence of the screening current density J(ω), extracted from the inphase component (T^′_H) of the fundamental transmittivity, has been analyzed in the framework of Bose glass dynamics. This analysis shows that the vortex depinning temperature is ≈24 K for this Tl-2212 film and the depinning process starts via excitations of half-loops. The angle dependent studies of the susceptibility further suggest that these half-loops consist of many pancake vortices.     

The effective activation energy Ueff(T,B,J) in Hg-1223 single phase superconductors

We review the methods of calculating the effective activation energy U_eff(T,B,J) for both transport measurements and magnetic decay, together with some theoretical models. Then, we apply these methods to our Hg-1223 single-phase superconductor to obtain the activation energy. Transport results give that the magnetic field and temperature dependence of the U_eff can be well described as U₀B^−α(1−T/T_c)^m. Magnetic relaxation shows that the current density dependence of U(J) can be scaled onto a single curve, which can be considered as the activation energy at some temperature T₀. The pinning mechanism in the measured temperature range does not change, and the activation energy depends separately on the three variables: T, B, and J, are responsible for the magnetic decay data scaling onto a single curve at various temperatures. As temperatures close to zero and near T_c, thermally assisted flux motion model is no longer valid since other processes dominate.     

Effects of nano-carbon doping and sintering temperature on microstructure and properties of MgB2

We fabricated nano-carbon (NC) doped MgB₂ bulks using an in situ process in order to improve the critical current density (J_c) under a high magnetic field and evaluated the correlated effects of the doped carbon content and sintering temperature on the phase formation, microstructure and critical properties. MgB_2−xC_x bulks with x = 0 and 0.05 were fabricated by pressing the powder into pellets and sintering at 800 °C, 900 °C, or 1000 °C for 30 min.We observed that NC was an effective dopant for MgB₂ and that part of it was incorporated into the MgB₂ while the other part remained (undoped), which reduced the grain size. The actual C content was estimated to be 68–90% of the nominal content. The NC doped samples exhibited lower T_c values and better J_c(B) behavior than the undoped samples. The doped sample sintered at 900 °C showed the highest J_c value due to its high doping level, small amount of second phase, and fine grains. On the other hand, the J_c was decreased at a sintering temperature of 1000 °C as a result of the formation of MgB₄ phase.     

Fractal flux jumps in an organic superconducting crystal

Angle dependant torque magnetization measurements have been carried out on the organic superconductor, κ-(ET)₂Cu(NCS)₂ at extremely low temperatures (25-300 mK). Magneto-thermal instabilities are observed in the form of abrupt magnetization (flux) jumps for magnetic field sweeps of 0-20 T. A fractal analysis of the flux jumps indicate that the instabilities do show a self similar structure with a fractal dimension of varying between 1.15 and 1.6. The fractal structure of the flux jumps in our sample shows a striking similarity to that of MgB₂ thin film samples, in which magneto-optical experiments have recently shown that the small flux jumps are due to the formation of dendritic flux structures. These smaller instabilities act to suppress the critical current density of the thin films. The similarity of the flux jump structure of our samples suggests that we may also observing the dendritic instability, but in a bulk sample rather than a thin film. If true, this is the first observation of the dendritic instability in a bulk superconducting sample, and is likely due to the layered nature of κ-(ET)₂Cu(NCS)₂, which results in a quasi-two dimensional flux structure over the majority it's mixed state phase diagram.     

MgB2 coated superconducting tapes with high critical current densities fabricated by hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition

The MgB₂ coated superconducting tapes have been fabricated on textured Cu (0 0 1) and polycrystalline Hastelloy tapes using coated conductor technique, which has been developed for the second generation high temperature superconducting wires. The MgB₂/Cu tapes were fabricated over a wide temperature range of 460-520 °C by using hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) technique. The tapes exhibited the critical temperatures (T_c) ranging between 36 and 38 K with superconducting transition width (ΔT_c) of about 0.3-0.6 K. The highest critical current density (J_c) of 1.34 × 10⁵ A/cm² at 5 K under 3 T is obtained for the MgB₂/Cu tape grown at 460 °C. To further improve the flux pinning property of MgB₂ tapes, SiC is coated as an impurity layer on the Cu tape. In contrast to pure MgB₂/Cu tapes, the MgB₂ on SiC-coated Cu tapes exhibited opposite trend in the dependence of J_c with growth temperature. The improved flux pinning by the additional defects created by SiC-impurity layer along with the MgB₂ grain boundaries lead to strong improvement in J_c for the MgB₂/SiC/Cu tapes. The MgB₂/Hastelloy superconducting tapes fabricated at a temperature of 520 °C showed the critical temperatures ranging between 38.5 and 39.6 K. We obtained much higher J_c values over the wide field range for MgB₂/Hastelloy tapes than the previously reported data on other metallic substrates, such as Cu, SS, and Nb. The J_c values of J_c(20 K, 0 T) ∼5.8 × 10⁶ A/cm² and J_c(20 K, 1.5 T) ∼2.4 × 10⁵ A/cm² is obtained for the 2-μm-thick MgB₂/Hastelloy tape. This paper will review the merits of coated conductor approach along with the HPCVD technique to fabricate MgB₂ conductors with high T_c and J_c values which are useful for large scale applications.     

Magnetic-field-driven quantum critical behavior in graphite and bismuth

We study magnetotransport properties of graphite and rhombohedral bismuth samples and found that in both materials applied magnetic field induces the metal-insulator- (MIT) and reentrant insulator-metal-type (IMT) transformations. The corresponding transition boundaries plotted on the magnetic field-temperature (B − T) plane nearly coincide for these semimetals and can be best described by power laws T ∼ (B − B_c)^κ, where B_c is a critical field at T = 0 and κ = 0.45 ± 0.05. We show that insulator-metal-insulator (I-M-I) transformations take place in the Landau level quantization regime and illustrate how the IMT in quasi-3D graphite transforms into a cascade of I-M-I transitions, related to the quantum Hall effect in quasi-2D graphite samples. We discuss the possible coupling of superconducting and excitonic correlations with the observed phenomena, as well as signatures of quantum phase transitions associated with the M-I and I-M transformations.