Study of the Nonlinear Response of Superconductors in the Microwave Band Using a Local Technique

Using a local technique, we study the microwave radiation power P₃(T,P,H_dc) at the triple frequency of the main signal as a function of the temperature T, the input power P, and the external magnetic field H_dc perpendicular to the superconductor surface for YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO) films, monocrystals, and polycrystals and for Nb films. The most distinctive feature of the temperature dependence P₃(T) of nonlinear response of superconductors is a maximum of the nonlinearity near the critical temperature T_c. Spatial distributions of the third-harmonic power are obtained for YBCO films at various temperatures. These distributions are indicative of a nonuniform distribution of T_c over the superconductor surface. Additional nonlinearity maxima are discovered in the dependence P₃(T) for YBCO films and monocrystals at temperatures about 2T_c/3. These maxima are probably related to the existence of several superconducting phases with different critical temperatures. For Nb films, the second nonlinearity maximum in the dependence P₃(T) appears only in the presence of an external magnetic field. The experimental data are interpreted within the framework of a two-fluid model of a superconductor, which takes into account the phenomenological nonlinear relationship between the vector potential A and the supercurrent j_s(A). The origin of nonlinearity in the studied superconductors is discussed.