Determination of the critical current density and the flux pinning force in single crystals YBa2Cu3O7-δ from the magnetization hysteresis cycles

Abstract

In this study, the magnetization measurements have been performed on high-temperature superconductor's single crystals YBa2Cu3O7-δ at large ranges of temperature T (15-85 K) and in magnetic fields up to 6T at different values of the angle θ between the applied magnetic field and c-axis. The critical current density Jc deduced from the magnetic hysteresis loops by the Bean formula for H parallel to the c-axis (θ=0°), our results have shown that the critical current density Jc was strongly dependent on the applied magnetic field. The pinning force Fp=Jc×μ0H was determined from magnetization for H//c, however, a plot of the normalized pinning force density fp= Fp/Fpmax as a function of the reduced magnetic field h= H/Hirr at different temperatures have shown good scaling with the form fp ~hp(1-h)q, where p and q are scaling parameters. We also found that the point pinning is more dominant than surface pinning under high temperatures.