Observation of an odd longitudinal magnetoresistance in YBa 2Cu 3O 7− δ single crystals with unidirected twins

Abstract

Unidirected twin planes are the cause of anisotropic pinning of vortices in YBa 2Cu 3O 7− δ (below YBaCuO) single crystals. In contrast to the case of only isotropic pinning, two new effects may appear due to the pinning anisotropy: guiding of vortices along twin planes and anisotropy of the Hall resistivity. The former leads to the appearance of the even (with respect to the reversal of a magnetic field direction) transverse resistivity and influences the Hall angle, while the last causes new additional odd contribution to the longitudinal resistivity. The paper presents magnetoresistivity measurements in the vortex liquid phase of YBaCuO single crystals with different angles between unidirected twins and current direction in the magnetic fields up to 12 T. Field inversion was used for separation of the even and odd components of the measured transverse and longitudinal voltages in order to select new contributions to the resistivity in the case of anisotropic pinning. The results are consistent with the model of anisotropic pinning where the anisotropy of the Hall drag coefficient is caused by twins.