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Title: Vortex confinement by columnar defects in YBa sub 2 Cu sub 3 O sub 7 crystals: Enhanced pinning at high fields and temperatures

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters; (United States)
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  1. IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York (USA) Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois (USA) Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (USA) Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (USA). Ames Laboratory Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa (USA). Department of Physics

We report the realization of a microstructure which leads to very strong high-temperature flux pinning in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7} crystals. Aligned discontinuous columns of damaged material, about 50 A in diameter and more than 15 {mu}m long, are produced by 580-MeV Sn-ion irradiation. The enhancement of flux pinning is largest when the applied magnetic field is aligned with these tracks. At high temperatures and fields the pinning is much greater than that produced by random point defects, and causes a considerable enlargement of the irreversibility region in the {ital H}-{ital T} plane.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
5329031
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters; (United States), Vol. 67:5; ISSN 0031-9007
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English