Magnetic-history-dependent critical currents in granular high-temperature superconductors: Dependence on defect structures and morphology

Abstract

Critical current densities, Jc’s, in conventional low temperature superconductors are controlled by defect structures that provide pinning for the magnetic flux lattice. High critical current densities and strong pinning have been observed in single crystals of the new oxide, high temperature superconductors (HTS) and have been ascribed to the presence of twin planes and to stoichiometry variations in the YBCO compound. Neutron irradiation studies have shown that intragranular Jc’s in YBCO can be strongly enhanced by the point defects introduced by irradiation. However, transport Jc’s determined by intergranular current transfer have remained dissappointingly low in bulk ceramic HTS materials. This has suggested a model of strongly superconducting grains separated by “weak links” that behave as Josephson tunnel junctions.The extraordinarily small superconducting coherence length ζo ∼ 10 A° in the HTS make them considerably more sensitive to small scale defects. Grain boundaries that act as pinning centers in conventional superconductors thus become barriers to current flow in the HTS.