Effect of nuclear irradiation on the superconducting transition temperatures of A-15 materials

A mechanism for the degradation of superconducting transition temperatures T_c by high energy nuclear irradiation in A-15 materials is proposed. The radiation is supposed to produce small “disordered” regions having a very low T_c, in a matrix having the original T_c of the material. The composite system has a well defined but lower T_c due to the proximity effect of the “disordered” regions.