Transport and inductive critical current densities in superconducting MgB 2

Abstract

The critical current density of four MgB 2 samples was measured inductively and for one of them also by transport. Pure phased and dense bulk samples yield a critical current density which in value, as well as in its magnetic field and temperature dependence, is essentially the same as the intra-granular current density measured in a dispersed powder. Also the correspondence between the inductive and transport data indicates that the grain boundaries in the bulk samples are totally transparent for the current. The current–voltage relation becomes rapidly shallow in the vicinity of a depinning line, well below the second critical field. Between the depinning line and the second critical field the material is ohmic and shows a marked magneto-resistivity, indicative of a flux-flow regime.