arXiv subjects

M. P. Maley

Publications and source records attributed to M. P. Maley.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2006

Collective pinning of imperfect vortex lattices by material line defects in extreme type-II superconductors

The critical current density shown by a superconductor at the extreme type-II limit is predicted to follow an inverse square-root power law with external magnetic field if the vortex lattice is weakly pinned by material line defects. It acquires an additional inverse dependence with thickness along the line direction once pinning of the interstitial vortex lines by material point defects is included. Moderate quantitative agreement with the critical current density shown by second-generation wires of high-temperature superconductors in kG magnetic fields is achieved at liquid-nitrogen temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2005

Spectroscopy of Magnetic Excitations in Magnetic Superconductors Using Vortex Motion

In magnetic superconductors a moving vortex lattice is accompanied by an ac magnetic field which leads to the generation of spin waves. At resonance conditions the dynamics of vortices in magnetic superconductors changes drastically, resulting in strong peaks in the dc I-V characteristics at voltages at which the washboard frequency of vortex lattice matches the spin wave frequency $ω_s({\bf g})$, where ${\bf g}$ are the reciprocal vortex lattice vectors. We show that if washboard frequency lies above the magnetic gap, peaks in the I-V characteristics in borocarbides and cuprate layered magnetic superconductors are strong enough to be observed over the background determined by the quasiparticles.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2004

Strongly Enhanced Current Densities in Superconducting Coated Conductors of YBa2Cu3O7-x + BaZrO3

There are numerous potential applications for superconducting tapes, based on YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) films coated onto metallic substrates. A long established goal of more than 15 years has been to understand the magnetic flux pinning mechanisms which allow films to maintain high current densities out to high magnetic fields. In fact, films carry 1-2 orders of magnitude higher current densities than any other form of the material. For this reason, the idea of further improving pinning has received little attention. Now that commercialisation of conductors is much closer, for both better performance and lower fabrication costs, an important goal is to achieve enhanced pinning in a practical way. In this work, we demonstrate a simple and industrially scaleable route which yields a 1.5 to 5-fold improvement in the in-field current densities of already-high-quality conductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2003

Angular dependent vortex pinning mechanisms in YBCO coated conductors and thin films

We present a comparative study of the angular dependent critical current density in YBa2Cu3O7 films deposited on IBAD MgO and on single crystal MgO and SrTiO3 substrates. We identify three angular regimes where pinning is dominated by different types of correlated and uncorrelated defects. We show that those regimes are present in all cases, indicating that the pinning mechanisms are the same, but their extension and characteristics are sample dependent, reflecting the quantitative differences in texture and defect density. In particular, the more defective nature of the films on IBAD turns into an advantage as it results in stronger vortex pinning, demonstrating that the critical current density of the films on single crystals is not an upper limit for the performance of the IBAD coated conductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Reflectivity and Microwave Absorption in Crystals with Alternating Intrinsic Josephson Junctions

We compute the frequency and magnetic field dependencies of the reflectivity $R(ω)$ in layered superconductors with two alternating intrinsic Josephson junctions with different critical current densities and quasiparticle conductivities for the electric field polarized along the c-axis. The parameter $α$ describing the electronic compressibility of the layers and the charge coupling of neighboring junctions was extracted for the SmLa$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$CuO$_{4-δ}$ superconductor from two independent optical measurements, the fit of the loss function $L(ω)$ at zero magnetic field and the magnetic field dependence of the peak positions in $L(ω)$. The experiments are consistent with a free electron value for $α$ near the Josephson plasma frequencies.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2002

Optical Properties of Crystals with Spatial Dispersion: Josephson Plasma Resonance in Layered Superconductors

We derive the transmission coefficient, $T(ω)$, for grazing incidence of crystals with spatial dispersion accounting for the excitation of multiple modes with different wave vectors ${\bf k}$ for a given frequency $ω$. The generalization of the Fresnel formulas contains the refraction indices of these modes as determined by the dielectric function $ε(ω,{\bf k})$. Near frequencies $ω_e$, where the group velocity vanishes, $T(ω)$ depends also on an additional parameter determined by the crystal microstructure. The transmission $T$ is significantly suppressed, if one of the excited modes is decaying into the crystal. We derive these features microscopically for the Josephson plasma resonance in layered superconductors.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Evidence for LineLike Vortex Liquid Phase in Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_8$ Probed by the Josephson Plasma Resonance

We measured the Josephson plasma resonance (JPR) in optimally doped Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ thin films using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy in transmission. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the JPR frequency shows that the c-axis correlations of pancake vortices remain intact at the transition from the vortex solid to the liquid phase. In this respect Tl$_2$Ba$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ films, withanisotropy parameter $γ\approx 150$, are similar to the less anisotropic YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-δ}$ $(γ\approx 8)$ rather than to the most anisotropic Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+δ}$ single crystals $γ\geq 500$).

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

C-axis Josephson Plasma Resonance Observed in Tl$_{2}$Ba$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8}$ Superconducting Thin Films using Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

We have unambiguously observed the c-axis Josephson Plasma Resonance (JPR) in high-T$_{c}$ cuprate Tl$_{2}$Ba$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8}$ superconducting thin films employing terahertz time-domain spectroscopy in transmission as a function of temperature in zero magnetic field. These are the first measurements of the JPR temperature dependence of a high-$T_{c}$ material in transmission. With increasing temperature, the JPR shifts from 705 GHz at 10 K to $\sim$170 GHz at 98 K corresponding to a c-axis penetration depth increasing from 20.1$\pm$0.6 $μ$m to 84$\pm$9 $μ$m. The linewidth of the JPR peak increases with temperature, indicative of an increase in the quasiparticle scattering rate. We have probed the onset of the c-axis phase coherence to $\sim$0.95T$_{c}$. The JPR vanishes above T$_{c}$ as expected.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2001

Closing the Pseudogap by Zeeman Splitting in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+y at High Magnetic Fields

Interlayer tunneling resistivity is used to probe the low-energy density-of-states (DOS) depletion due to the pseudogap in the normal state of Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+y}$. Measurements up to 60 T reveal that a field that restores DOS to its ungapped state shows strikingly different temperature and doping dependencies from the characteristic fields of the superconducting state. The pseudogap closing field and the pseudogap temperature $T^{\star}$ evaluated independently are related through a simple Zeeman energy scaling. These findings indicate a predominant role of spins over the orbital effects in the formation of the pseudogap.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Josephson Coupling, Phase Correlations, and Josephson Plasma Resonance in Vortex Liquid Phase

Josephson plasma resonance has been introduced recently as a powerful tool to probe interlayer Josephson coupling in different regions of the vortex phase diagram in layered superconductors. In the liquid phase, the high temperature expansion with respect to the Josephson coupling connects the Josephson plasma frequency with the phase correlation function. This function, in turn, is directly related to the pair distribution function of the liquid. We develop a recipe to extract the phase and density correlation functions from the dependencies of the plasma resonance frequency $ω_p({\bf B})$ and the $c$ axis conductivity $σ_c({\bf B}) $ on the {\it ab}-component of the magnetic field at fixed {\it c} -component. Using Langevin dynamic simulations of two-dimensional vortex arrays we calculate density and phase correlation functions at different temperatures. Calculated phase correlations describe very well the experimental angular dependence of the plasma resonance field. We also demonstrate that in the case of weak damping in the liquid phase, broadening of the JPR line is caused mainly by random Josephson coupling arising from the density fluctuations of pancake vortices. In this case the JPR line has a universal shape, which is determined only by parameters of the superconductors and temperature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Quasiparticle and Cooper Pair Tunneling in the Vortex State of Bi-2212

From measurements of the c-axis I-V characteristics of intrinsic Josephson junctions in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+delta} (Bi-2212) mesas we obtain the field dependence (H || c) of the quasiparticle (QP) conductivity, sigma_q(H,T), and of the Josephson critical current density, J_c(H,T). The quasiparticle conductivity sigma_q(H) increases sharply with H and reaches a plateau at 0.05 T <H< 0.3 T. We explain such behavior by the dual effect of supercurrents around vortices. First, they enhance the QP DOS, leading to an increase of sigma_q with H at low H and, second, they enhance the scattering rate for specular tunneling as pancakes become disordered along the c-axis at higher H, leading to a plateau at moderate H.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2000

Interlayer Tunneling of Quasiparticles and Cooper Pairs in Bi-2212 Single Crystal Whiskers

The interlayer tunneling has been studied on high quality Bi-2212 stacks of micron to the submicron lateral size. We found that low temperature and low voltage tunneling I-V characteristics can be self-consistently described by Fermi-liquid model for a d-wave superconductor with a significant contribution from coherent interlayer tunneling. The gap and pseudogap interplay with variation of temperature and magnetic field has been extracted from the I-V characteristics. We consider also the role of charging effects for submicron stacks.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

Plasma resonance at low magnetic fields as a probe of vortex line meandering in layered superconductors

We consider the magnetic field dependence of the plasma resonance frequency in pristine and in irradiated Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_8$ crystals near $T_c$. At low magnetic fields we relate linear in field corrections to the plasma frequency to the average distance between the pancake vortices in the neighboring layers (wandering length). We calculate the wandering length in the case of thermal wiggling of vortex lines, taking into account both Josephson and magnetic interlayer coupling of pancakes. Analyzing experimental data, we found that (i) the wandering length becomes comparable with the London penetration depth near T$_{c}$ and (ii) at small melting fields ($< 20$ G) the wandering length does not change much at the melting transition. This shows existence of the line liquid phase in this field range. We also found that pinning by columnar defects affects weakly the field dependence of the plasma resonance frequency near $T_c$.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

High-Field Quasiparticle Tunneling in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+delta: Negative Magnetoresistance in the Superconducting State

We report on the c-axis resistivity rho_c(H) in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+δ} that peaks in quasi-static magnetic fields up to 60 T. By suppressing the Josephson part of the two-channel (Cooper pair/quasiparticle) conductivity σ_c (H), we find that the negative slope of ρ_c(H) above the peak is due to quasiparticle tunneling conductivity σ_q(H) across the CuO_2 layers below H_{c2}. At high fields (a) σ_q(H) grows linearly with H, and (b) ρ_c(T) tends to saturate (sigma_c \neq 0) as T->0, consistent with the scattering at the nodes of the d-gap. A superlinear sigma_q(H) marks the normal state above T_c.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

Interlayer Quasiparticle Transport in the Vortex State of Josephson Coupled Superconductors

We calculate the dependence of the interlayer quasiparticle conductivity, $σ_q$, in a Josephson coupled d-wave superconductor on the magnetic field B||c and the temperature T. We consider a clean superconductor with resonant impurity scattering and a dominant coherent interlayer tunneling. When pancake vortices in adjacent layers are weakly correlated at low T the conductivity increases sharply with B before reaching an extended region of slow linear growth, while at high T it initially decreases and then reaches the same linear regime. For correlated pancakes $σ_q$ increases much more strongly with the applied field.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

The effect of an in-plane magnetic field on the interlayer transport of quasiparticles in layered superconductors

We consider the quasiparticle c-axis conductivity in highly anisotropic layered compounds in the presence of the magnetic field parallel to the layers. We show that at low temperatures the quasiparticle interlayer conductivity depends strongly on the orientation of the in-plane magnetic field if the excitation gap has nodes on the Fermi surface. Thus measurements of the angle-dependent c-axis (out-of-plane) magnetoresistance, as a function of the orientation of the magnetic field in the layers, provide information on the momentum dependence of the superconducting gap (or pseudogap) on the Fermi surface. Clean and highly anisotropic layered superconductors seem to be the best candidates for probing the existence and location of the nodes on the Fermi surface.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

Interlayer Transport of Quasiparticles and Cooper pairs in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y Superconductors

We study the c-axis transport of stacked, intrinsic junctions in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+y single crystals, fabricated by the double-sided ion beam processing technique from single crystal whiskers. Measurements of the I-V characteristics of these samples allow us to obtain the temperature and voltage dependence of the quasiparticle c-axis conductivity in the superconducting state, the Josephson critical current, and the superconducting gap. We show that the BCS d-wave model in the clean limit for resonant impurity scattering with a significant contribution from coherent interlayer tunneling, describes satisfactorily the low temperature and low energy c-axis transport of both quasiparticles and Cooper pairs.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv1999

Angular Dependence of C-Axis Magnetoresistance in Bi-2212 Single Crystals With Columnar Defects

We measured the angular dependence of the c-axis magnetoresistance rho_c(B) of Bi-2212 irradiated with heavy ions. At temperatures near 68 K the scaling of rho_c(B) with the c-axis magnetic field component B_perp is broken and the in-plane field, B_parallel, affects rho_c. At this temperature, at a specific field B_cr \approx B_Phi/2, magnetoresistance becomes independent of field orientation. This crossing point allows us to estimate the correlation length L of pancake positions along the c axis. We find L/s is about 100 at B=B_cr, where s is the interlayer spacing. This provides evidence of strong enhancement of pancake alignment in the vortex liquid in crystals with columnar defects.

cond-mat.supr-con↗