Superconducting properties and structure of ion bombarded Nb layers

The influence of ion bombardment on the superconducting transition temperature T_c and the structure of thin evaporated niobium layers has been investigated as a function of ion species and layer purity. Irradiation through pure layers with neon ions and fluences of typically 1016 ions/cm² leads to relatively small T_c decreases (δT_c × 0.5 K), while in oxygen contaminated layers larger effects depending on oxygen concentration are observed. Homogeneous implantation of chemically active impurities (nitrogen, oxygen) also drastically depresses T_c reaching the detection limit of 1.2K at a concentration of 15 at. %N. The T_c depressions correlate with a lattice parameter expansion of the Nb bcc structure at a rate of about 0.1 %per 1 at. % impurity.     

Enhancement of the superconducting critical temperature Tc of niobium by radiation damage

5 μm niobium foils were irradiated with 25 MeV oxygen ions at 20 K, 33 K and 145 K up to fluences of 1.3 × 10¹⁶cm^-2 corresponding to a damage rate decrease of 99%. T_c versusresistivity shows a minimum depending on the irradiation temperature. At high fluences and subsequent annealing T_c is enhanced compared to the unirradiated value and the transition is broadened by a factor of about 30.     

Effects of low temperature irradiation with heavy ions on superconductor niobium

To study the effects of heavy ion irradiation at low temperature on type II superconductor Nb, the transition temperatureT _c , the normal state residual resistivityρ _B , the transition widthΔT _ph using oxygen ions of 25 MeV and subsequent thermal annealing were measured. The samples were held at temperatures <20 K during irradiation in a cryostat for in situ measurements. The maximum oxygen fluence was about 2·10¹⁵ cm^?2 corresponding a relatively high defect concentration. The heavy ion irradiation experiments are described. The critical temperatureT _c decreases with increasing residual resistivityρ _B . In agreement with the theory and experiments, the gap anisotropy parameter is 〈a ²〉=0.008, subsequent annealing shows a hysteresis ofT _c versusρ _B . The resistivity saturation value Δρ_BS = 2.55 μΩ cm was obtained and different recovery stages were found. Significant broadening of transition width during irradiation was observed.T _c andΔT _ph anneal to 60% in the temperature interval of (60–90) K. Oxygen induced effects as a simulation method of high neutron damage are compared with irradiation measurements using neutrons and deuterons.     

多层膜外退火方法制备MgB2超导薄膜

报道了利用电子束蒸发的Mg/B多层膜作为前驱体，然后退火制备MgB₂薄膜的工作. 实验中发现，采用翻转膜面的退火处理方式可以有效地避免降温过程中Mg蒸气在薄膜表面形成的颗粒凝结，由此稳定地实现了面积为10 mm×10 mm，均匀、平整的超导薄膜的制备，T_c达35 K，转变宽度为0.8 K，在5 μm×5 μm的区域内薄膜的平均粗糙度小于10 nm. 为了便于后续器件制作过程中的微加工工艺，研究了膜厚小于1000 ?时薄膜的成相规律，发现当样品厚度减薄后，T_c会有明显降低. 通过调整前驱薄膜中的不同分层厚度，仍可实现转变温度达30 K以上、厚度约600 ?的MgB₂薄膜，在20 K时的临界电流密度为2.4×10⁶ A/cm².     

Formation of near stoichiometric A15Nb3Si from annealing an amorphous alloy under high pressure

The A15Nb₃Si with a composition closed to stoichiometric compound has been synthesized under high pressure from a starting material of Nb₇₇Si₂₃ amorphous alloys. High pressure annealing was carried out in Bridgman anvils apparatus. The amorphous alloy would decompose into A15Nb₃Si, bcc Nb solid solution and hexagonal phase when it was annealed under a pressure lower or a temperature higher than that for forming single phase A15Nb₃Si. The yielded A15Nb₃Si exhibited a superconducting transition temperatureT _c of 19.1 K, and has been indexed unambiguously with a lattice parameter ofa=0.5093 nm. Moreover, a nonlinear relationship betweenT _c anda has been constructed from our experimental data, and aT _c of 27 K for stoichiometric A15Nb₃Si can be expected.     

Effect of γ irradiation on the structural and thermal properties of [N(C2H5)4]2ZnBr4 in the vicinity of a first-order phase transition

The unit cell parameters a and c of nonirradiated [N(C₂H₅)₄]₂ZnBr₄ crystals in the temperature region 90–300 K and of samples irradiated with γ rays to doses of 10⁶ and 5 × 10⁶ R in the 270-to 300-K interval were measured using x-ray diffraction. The data obtained were used to derive the thermal expansion coefficients α_a and α_c. It is shown that the parameter a increases and the parameter c decreases with increasing temperature. In the vicinity of the phase transition (PT) at T = 285 K, the temperature dependences of a(T) and c(T) reveal anomalies in the form of jumps and the α_a(T) and α_c(T) curves have a maximum and a minimum, respectively. The heat capacity of nonirradiated and irradiated [N(C₂H₅)₄]₂ZnBr₄ samples was measured by adiabatic calorimetry. A maximum was found in the C _p(T) curve at T = 285 K. Both x-ray diffraction and heat capacity measurements showed that the PT temperature decreased after γ irradiation.     

Specific features of anion transfer in HoF<Subscript>3</Subscript> crystals at high temperatures

The anionic conductivity of HoF₃ single crystals with a β-YF₃ structure (orthorhombic crystal system, space group Pnma) is investigated over a wide range of temperatures (323–1073 K). The unit cell parameters of HoF₃ crystals are as follows: a=0.6384±0.0009 nm, b=0.6844±0.0009 nm, and c=0.4356±0.0005 nm. It is revealed that the conductivity anisotropy of the HoF₃ crystals is insignificant over the entire temperature range covered. The crossover from one mechanism of ion transfer to another mechanism is observed near the critical temperature T_c≈620 K. The activation enthalpy of electrical conduction is found to be ΔH₁=0.744 eV at T<T_c and ΔH₂=0.43 eV at T>T_c. The fluorine vacancies are the most probable charge carriers in HoF₃ crystals. The fluorine ionic conductivities at temperatures of 323, 500, and 1073 K are equal to 5×10^?10, 5×10^?6, and 2×10^?3 S cm^?1, respectively.     

Resistivity,fluctuation-enhanced conductivity,and irreversibility line of high-quality Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10 single crystals

We present measurements of the resistivity tensor components ρ_a (T) and ρ_c (T) of high-quality Tl₂Ba₂Ca₂Cu₃O₁₀ single crystals wit T_c = 118 … 121 K. The in-plane resistivity ρ_a as well as the out-of-plane resistivity ρ_c show a metal-like temperature dependence with an anisotropy ratio ρ_c/ρ_a of up to 10³. The coherence length ξ_c (0) = 0.15 nm could be determined from an analysis of the fluctuation conductivity above T_c. From measurements of the ac-susceptibility in magnetic fields up to 10 Tesla the temperature dependence of the depinning line could be obtained. The diffusion coefficient of the flux lines obtained from the frequency dependence of the depinning temperature shows a thermally activated behaviour of the flux motion in the field range 0.1 T ? B ? 10 T.     

钛离子辐照对MgB2超导薄膜的载流能力和磁通钉扎能力的影响

利用混合物理化学气相沉积法(hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition, HPCVD)可以制备出高性能的MgB₂超导薄膜, 再对薄膜进行钛(Ti)离子辐照处理.经过辐照处理后的样品被掺入了Ti元素, 与未处理的干净MgB₂样品相比,其超导转变温度没有出现大幅度的下降, 而在外加磁场下的临界电流密度得到了明显的提高,同时样品的上临界磁场也得到了提高. 在温度5 K, 外加垂直磁场为4 T的情况下, Ti离子辐照剂量为1× 10¹³/cm²的样品的临界电流密度达到了1.72× 10⁵ A/cm², 比干净的MgB₂要高出许多,而其超导转变温度仍能维持在39.9 K的较高水平.     

Spin susceptibility of neutron-irradiation-disordered YBa2Cu3O6.9 in the normal and superconducting states

The spin-spin relaxation rate ⁶³ T ₂ ⁻¹ of ⁶³Cu nuclei in CuO₂ layers is measured in the normal and superconducting states of the compound YBa₂Cu₃O_6.9 (T _c ^onset =94 K) subjected to radiation-induced disordering by a fast-neutron flux Φ to T _c ^onset =68 K (Φ=7×10¹⁸ cm⁻²) and T _c ^onset <4 K (Φ=12×10¹⁸ cm⁻²). It is found that as the structural disorder increases, the contribution of the indirect spin-spin interaction ⁶³ T _2G ⁻¹ , which is related to the value of the spin susceptibility at the boundary of the Brillouin zone of the copper planes χ_s(q={π/a; π/a}), decreases slightly at the transition to the superconducting state for the initial sample and remains unchanged for the weakly disordered sample. This behavior of the short-wavelength contribution to the spin susceptibility attests to the stability of the x ²−y ² symmetry of the energy gap against structural disorder, in accordance with proposed theoretical models of Cooper pairing for high-T _c cuprates. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 3, 172–177 (10 February 1998)     

High-purity Zirconium under Niobium ion implantation: possibility of a dynamic precipitation?

High-purity (6N purity) Zirconium was subjected to different Niobium ion (Nb⁺) fluences in a particle accelerator. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction confirmed subsurface phase transformation. While an approximate scaling was noted between Nb⁺ fluence and quantum of phase transformation, the sample subjected to the highest ion irradiation also showed significant subsurface shear residual stresses (τ₁₃). Molecular dynamics simulations, considering momentum transfer, revealed a drop in τ₁₃ beyond a critical displacements per atom or Nb⁺ fluence. High-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (HRXTEM) confirmed formation of bcc (body-centred cubic) β phase and also linked τ₁₃ with such transformation. HRXTEM revealed, at about 100 nm depth, presence of 10–15% β with 2–15 nm size. The β particles and the surrounding α also had significant microscopic shear strains. The dynamic nature of the Nb implantation is expected to create fluctuations in temperature, Nb concentration and relative lattice damage. Such fluctuation, on the other hand, is/was hypothesized to dynamically alter the critical nuclei size: a clear possibility of ‘dynamic precipitation’.     

Modifications induced by swift heavy ions in rapidly solidified Sn–8.5Sb–5.5Cu alloy

Alloys of composition Sn–8.5Sb–5.5Cu (in atomic percent) were rapidly solidified by a melt-spinning technique. The samples were irradiated at room temperature with GeV uranium ions of fluences between 9×10⁸ and 9×10¹¹ ions cm^?2. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the formation of a new-phase Cu₁₁Sb₃ as well as a reduction in the axial ratio (c/a) of the matrix (β -Sn) indicating the regular re-arrangement of atoms. Scanning force microscopy showed no surface topographic changes with the ion fluence. The mechanical properties (Young's modulus and hardness) of the irradiated alloys were studied as a function of ion fluence. The radiation-annealing process is discussed in terms of the evolution of both resistivity and hardness as a function of ion fluence.     

Thermal,electrical and optical properties of proton-irradiated Makrofol DE 7-2 nuclear track detector

Samples from sheets of the polymeric material Makrofol DE 7-2 have been exposed to 1 MeV protons of fluences in the range 2.5×10¹³–5×10¹⁵ p/cm². The resultant effect of proton irradiation on the thermal properties of Makrofol has been investigated using thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The onset temperature of decomposition T _o and the activation energy of thermal decomposition E _a were calculated, and the results indicated that the Makrofol detector decomposes in one weight loss stage. Also, the proton irradiation in the fluence range 7.5×10¹³–5×10¹⁵ p/cm² led to a more compact structure of Makrofol polymer, which resulted in an improvement in its thermal stability with an increase in the activation energy of thermal decomposition. The variation of transition temperatures with proton fluence has been determined using DTA. The Makrofol thermograms were characterized by the appearance of an endothermic peak due to the melting of the crystalline phase. The melting temperature of the polymer, T _m, was investigated to probe the crystalline domains of the polymer. At a fluence range of 7.5×10¹³–5×10¹⁵ p/cm², the defect generated destroys the crystalline structure, thus reducing the melting temperature. In addition, the V–I characteristics of the polymer samples were investigated. The electrical conductivity was decreased with the increasing proton fluence up to 5×10¹⁵ p/cm². Further, the refractive index, transmission of the samples and any color changes were studied. The color intensity Δ E was greatly increased with the increasing proton fluence and was accompanied by a significant increase in the red and yellow color components.     

Pyroelectric properties of a ferroelectric single crystal [NH2(CH3)2]3Sb2Cl9 (DMACA)

The pyroelectric properties of DMACA single crystals have been measured in the range 135–293 K, revealing the existence of ferroelectric second order phase transition at T_c = 243 K. The saturation value of spontaneous polarization P_s along a-axis amounts to 6.8 × 10⁻³ Cm⁻² at about 203 K. Critical exponent β = 0.5 has been found in the region 0.5–10 K away from T_c.     

Observation of RF superconductivity in Y1Ba2Cu3O9−δ AT 3 GHz

Two samples of Y₁Ba₂Cu₃O_9−δ, one fabricated at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the other at the University of Wuppertal, were tested in the rf field of a niobium cavity at 3 GHz and in a temperature range from 4.2 to 300 K. The data show a sharp reduction of the Joule losses in the samples beginning at an onset temperature of 98 and 92 K, respectively. The residual losses of the sample were measured at 4.2 K where the host cavity was superconducting. The ratio of these losses to the ones observed slightly above T_c was less than 1.1 × 10⁻². This indicates that only a small fraction of the conduction electrons of the Y₁Ba₂Cu₃O_9-δ sample remain unpaired. The dependence of the rf losses on the rf magnetic field allows the determination of a maximum surface current density which is found to be about 5 × 10⁴ A/cm².     

Dynamic behavior of implanted nitrogen in zirconium at various stages of implantations

Abstract

Depth profiles of nitrogen implanted into Zr with an energy of 50 keV were calculated by dynamic SASAMAL code with three different assumptions for the diffusion of excess atoms over stoichiometry, i.e., ‘no diffusion', ‘both-sides-diffusion’ and ‘upward-diffusion'. To distinguish nitrogens implanted certain stage of implantations, alternate implantations of ¹⁵N and ¹⁴N were used. The results were compared with the experimental results by the resonance nuclear reaction analysis, NRA. For ¹⁵N implantation with fluences from 1 × 10¹⁷ to 1 × 10¹⁸ ions/cm², the calculated results with ‘upward-diffusion’ agreed very well with the NRA results for all fluences. For the depth profile of pre-implanted ¹⁵N (1 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm²), which was changed by the subsequent ¹⁴N implantation with fluences of 1 ～ 10 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm², the agreement with the NRA results was satisfactory until the ¹⁴N fluence did not exceed 5 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm², but for higher fluences, the retained probabilities of ¹⁵N obtained by the ‘upward-diffusion’ code were too low compared with the experimental value obtained by NRA. For the depth profiles of ¹⁵N (1 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm²) implanted following after implantations of ¹⁴N with fluences of 1 ～ 10 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm², the agreement with the NRA results was quite good for all ¹⁴N fluences. It is concluded that the approximation of ‘upward-diffution’ is proper satisfactorily for the treatment of atoms implanted at the final stage of implantations, but a problem is left for the treatment of atoms implanted at the early stage of implantations.     

Thermal expansion op NbSe2 and TaS2

The lattice parameters a₀ and c₀ of the hexagonal 2H polytype of NbSe₂; have been measured over the temperature range 156–478 K for a₀, and 138–482 K for c₀. The lattice parameter c₀ of the hexagonal 2H polytype of TaS₂ has been measured between 151 and 472 K. The lattice parameters a₀ and c₀ for the octahedral 1T polytype of TaS₂ been measured between 165 and 488 K. Over these temperature ranges, the following average coefficients of thermal expansion have been measured; 2H-NbSe₂, 6.6 × 10^?6K^?1 along the a-axis, 19.9 × 10^?6 K^?1 along the c-axis; 2H-TaS₂, 15.6 × 10^?6 K^?1 along the c-axis; IT-TaS₂, 12.7 × 10^?6 K^?1 along the c-axis. The parameter c₀ of 1T-TaS₂ undergoes two transitions which may be explained in terms of charge density waves.     

High temperature x-ray powder diffractometric studies of the superconducting compound YBa2Cu3O7-x from room temperature to 1300 K in air

At room temperature, the compound YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x is orthorhombic, distorted perovskite, deficient in oxygen. X-ray powder diffractograms obtained for this compound over a range of temperatures between room temperature (298 K) and 1300 K in air reveal no change in X-ray diffraction pattern up to 1200 K except for slight shift in peak positions and variations in peak intensities because of thermal expansion and stoichiometry changes in oxygen or metal ion sub-lattices. At temperatures above ∼ 1250 K, the compund undergoes an irreversible transition to a new phase analogous to Y₂BaCuO₅ green phase which is an insulator. Temperature variation of lattice parameters shows an anisotropic expansion. Expansion along c-axis being maximum. Coefficients of linear thermal expansion along a and b axes are almost the same (δ_a≈δ_b≈7×10⁻⁶.K⁻¹) while along c-axis it is double (δ_c≈15×10^-6. K⁻¹) than that of a or b. Coefficient of volume thermal expansion of the unit cell (δ_v≈29×10⁻⁶.K⁻¹) obeys the relation δ_v≈δ_a+δ_b+δ_c for an orthorhombic symmetry in the range 298–1200K in air.     

Effect of electron irradiation on the structure and properties of the MgB2 superconductor

This paper reports on the results of an investigation into the effect of irradiation of the Bardeen-Cooper-Schriefer superconductor MgB₂ by electrons with a mean energy ē ～ 10 MeV at low doses (0 ≤ Φt ≤ ～5 × 10¹⁶ cm^?2) on the lattice parameters, the intensity and width of diffraction lines, the superconducting transition temperature T _c , and the temperature dependence of the resistivity ρ(T) in the normal state. The results of structural investigations have revealed regularities in the defect formation in the magnesium and boron sublattices of the MgB₂ compound as a function of the electron fluence. At the initial stage, irradiation leads to the formation of vacancies, originally in the magnesium sublattice and then in the boron sublattice. For fluences Φt ≥ ～1 × 10¹⁶ cm^?2, vacancies are formed in both sublattices. The evolution of the electrical and physical properties [T _c , ρ_{273 K}, residual resistivity ratio RRR = ρ_{273 K}/ρ_{50 K}, parameters of the dependence ρ(T)] under electron irradiation is in agreement with the regularities revealed in the formation of radiation-induced defects in the crystal lattice of the MgB₂ compound.     

Structure of defects in Pt induced by neutron and ion irradiation

The effect of formation of a nanocrystalline structure in the near-surface layer of platimun (99.99%) as a result of 30-keV Ar ion bombardment up to fluences of 10¹⁶–10¹⁷ cm^?2 was discovered by the direct method of field ion microscopy. The spatial distribution and structure of radiation damage in Pt was established in the case where Pt is bombarded by fast neutrons (E > 0.1 MeV) up to fluences of 6.7 × 10¹⁷ and 3.5 × 10¹⁸ cm^?2 in the RWW-2M reactor at a temperature of ～310 K.