First critical fields, critical currents and flux creep of TmBa 2Cu 3O x and YBa 2Cu 3O x superconducting single crystals

Abstract

The twin walls influence on transition temperature and critical current density in YBa 2 Cu 3 O x and TmBa 2 Cu 3 O x single crystal was studied. The temperature dependence of resistivity shows that the untwinned region superconducting transition temperature exceeds the twinned volume T c value by several degrees. The additional vortex pinning by twins at high temperatures T > 40–50 K was observed. The anomalous (and almost linear) increase of the magnetization hysteresis width, corresponding to the critical current density increase, was observed in single crystals. The effect was found to be strongly temperature and angular dependent. The absence of this anomaly in YBa 2 Cu 3 O x samples suggests the magnetic origin of the critical current growth in magnetic field.