Vortex pinning in bulk-processed Y–Ba–Cu–O with ZrO2 nano-particles: Optimum pinning center size

Autor: A. Ouerghi, Nahed Moutalbi, Jacques G. Noudem, Ali M’chirgui, E. Djurado
Rok vydání: 2011
Předmět:
Zdroj: Physica C: Superconductivity. 471:97-103
ISSN: 0921-4534
DOI: 10.1016/j.physc.2010.12.012
Popis: Crystalline defects on the nano-scale were successfully introduced into YBCO high-temperature superconductors (HTS) by ZrO 2 nanometer particles addition in order to strongly pin the quantized vortices. Three batches of ZrO 2 nano-particles with different particle size distributions were used. The corresponding mean nano-particle diameters are respectively, 287, 536 and 764 nm. Serving as artificial pinning centers (APC), non-superconducting nano-particles cause a remarkable enhancement of critical current density ( J c ) at T = 77 K. This improvement has been shown to depend on the size of APC. The pinning strength of nano-particles inclusions has been found to be greater with wide size dispersed nano-particles. Our results indicate that pinning properties and vortex dynamics depend on the size of APCs. The introduction of APCs with controlled size is indispensable to achieve a high J c .
Databáze: OpenAIRE