Radiation effects of electrons and protons on the ceramic oxide superconductor YBaCuO

The irradiation of the high T_c superconducting material YBaCuO has been carried out by using 200 keV proton, and 400 keV and 8 MeV electron beams. The temperature of zero resistance increases from 86.7 to 89.8 K with proton implantation while 8 MeV electron irradiation reduces the zero resistance temperature by 3 K with an irradiation dose of 2.25×10¹⁴e^-/cm². However, wich an irradiation dose of 1.35×10¹⁵e^-/cm² the 8 MeV electron beam can make the superconductor become insulating. The in situ examination of a high resolution transmission electron microscope has proved that the amorphous region in the system has ordered arrangement whereas the crystalline region turns disordered under 400 keV electron irradiation with very high doses up to 10²⁶ e^-/cm². The experiments demostrate that proton and electron irradiations exhibit quite different effects both in its structure and property.