Abstract
Single crystals of the solid solution Nd 1+xBa 2−xCu 3O y have been grown from BaO-CuO flux in ZrO 2/Y crucibles. Various Nd contents could be achieved by growing in different oxygen partial pressures or by subsequent thermal treatments, which led to a spinodal decomposition. To suppress the influence of oxygen defects, first all crystals have been high-pressure oxidized several times. In a second series, the oxygen content of stoichiometric crystals have been reduced step by step by annealing in 1 bar oxygen at different temperatures. The peak effect of the critical current and the irreversibility field are studied as a function of oxygen content, Nd/Ba ratio, and Nd/Y substitution of the crystals. The influence of these different defects and their combination on the optimization of the critical current density is discussed.
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