Enhancement at low temperatures of the critical current density for Au-coated MgB2 thin films

Abstract

We measured the superconducting critical current densities (Jc) from the magnetization hysteresis (M–H) loop for Au-coated MgB2 thin films. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether the vortex avalanche phenomenon which suppresses the Jc for low temperature (T<15 K) and low field (H⩽1000 Oe) could be cured by gold deposition. This avalanche, called flux noise, has been a headache in applications of MgB2 thin films. Fortunately, the flux noise in the M–H loop is suppressed with increasing Au-film thickness and finally disappears when the thickness of the gold becomes 2.55 μm. We found a way to remove one obstacle for applications of MgB2 thin films as an superconducting device.