Plastic Vortex Creep in YBa{sub {bold 2}}Cu{sub {bold 3}}O{sub {bold 7{minus}}}{ital x} Crystals
- Institute of Superconductivity, Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900 (Israel)
- Department of Condensed Matter Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100 (Israel)
- Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institut fuer Technische Physik and Universitaet Karlsruhe, D-76021 Karlsruhe (Germany)
- Theoretische Physik, Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich-Hoenggerberg, CH-8093 Zuerich, Switzerl
- Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439 (United States)
Local magnetic relaxation measurements in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7{minus}{ital x}} crystals show evidence for plastic vortex creep associated with the motion of dislocations in the vortex lattice. This creep mechanism governs the vortex dynamics in a wide range of temperatures and fields below the melting line and above the field corresponding to the peak in the {open_quote}{open_quote}fishtail{close_quote}{close_quote} magnetization. In this range the activation energy {ital U}{sub pl}, which decreases with field, drops below the elastic (collective) creep activation energy, {ital U}{sub el}, which increases with field. A crossover in flux dynamics from elastic to plastic creep is shown to be the origin of the fishtail in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7{minus}{ital x}}. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31-109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 287008
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 8; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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