Magnetic memory in a ceramic YBCO superconductor composed of sub-micron-size grains

Abstract

The ceramic YBa2Cu4O8 (YBCO) composed of sub-micron-size grains is considered as a random Josephson-coupled network of 0 and π junctions and shows successive phase transitions. The first transition occurs inside each grain at T c1 = 81 K, and the second transition occurs among the grains at T c2 = 47 K. A magnetic glass behavior similar to those of spin-glasses is observed at temperatures below T c2. The memory phenomena are investigated by recording the zero-fieldcooled and thermoremanent magnetizations measured on heating after the cooling process with a halt at T s = 41 K. Memory effects of the halt are imprinted in the system when the sample is re-heated. In the case without a field switch at T s , the influence of the halt is confined to a narrow temperature region near T s whereas the memory effect of the halt employing a field switch is extended over a wide temperature region below T s . The results suggest that chiral-glass ordering occurs at T c2 in the ceramic YBCO.