Magnetic relaxation in superconductors with varying creep behavior

Abstract

The relaxation of an electromagnetic field inside low-and high-temperature superconductors in the case when the magnetic flux occupies the cross section incompletely is studied theoretically in the self-similar approximation. On the macroscopic level, creep is described by phenomenological equations for exponential and power I-V characteristics. A relation between the nonlinearity of the I-V curves and the magnetic relaxation process is found. The range of low electric fields is shown to be of considerable importance for the relaxation in high-temperature superconductors. In this range, the equations for exponential and power I-V curves may differ substantially from those at high fields. Complete analytical solutions are contrasted with a numerical solution to the problem.