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Superconducting glass-phase diagram for ceramic
YBa2Cu 3O7-δ
Z. Koziol, J. Piechota, H. Szymczak
To cite this version:
Superconducting glass-phase diagram
for ceramic
YBa2Cu3O7-03B4
Z.
Kozio0142,
J. Piechota and H.Szymczak
Institute of
Physics,
PolishAcademy
of Sciences, Al. Lotników 32/46, 02-668 Warszawa, Poland(Reçu
le 30janvier
1989, révisé le 19 mai 1989,accepté
le 19juillet
1989)
Résumé. 2014
Nous avons mesuré la
susceptibility complexe
deceramiques
YBa2Cu3O7-03B4
près
de la transitionsupraconductrice
en fonction desamplitudes
duchamp
alternatif et d’unchamp
statique
superposé.
Du comportement du maximum deX",
nous avons déduit une loi d’échelle universelle pour ladependance
en fonction duchamp
statique
ainsi que ladépendance
entempérature
du courantJosephson
intergrains
et leschamps
critiques
H0
(où le
champ
estpiégé
par les
jonctions)
etHJ (où
apparait
lasupraconductivité
envolume).
Ces matériaux ont despropriétés
qui
rappellent
celles des verres despins
et sont en accordqualitatif
avec lespredictions
de modèles pour les
supraconducteurs
désordonnés. Abstract. 2014 ACcomplex
magnetic
susceptibility
of ceramicYBa2Cu3O7-03B4
was measured close tothe
superconducting
transition temperature, as a function of theamplitude
of thealternating
magnetic
field and of asuperimposed
dc field. From the maxima of theimaginary
part ofsusceptibility,
the universalscaling
of the dc field and the temperaturedependence
of theintergrain Josephson
current were obtained,together
with the critical fields :H0,
fortrapping
the fluxby
thejunctions,
andHJ
for the occurrence of bulksuperconductivity.
The results suggest that these materials havespin-glass-like properties,
and arequalitatively
consistent with thepredictions
of models of disorderedsuperconductors.
Classification
Physics
Abstracts 74.50 - 75.10N1. Introduction.
There is a
large
amount of work devoted toapplying
the ideas ofspin-glass theory
togranular
classical
(low Tc)
superconductors
[1, 2]
and tohigh Tc superconductors
[3].
We haveinvestigated
theproperties
of ceramic materials. Theimportant
feature of these ceramics is disorder.Superconducting
grains
of dimensions of the order of microns areseparated by
nonsuperconducting
barriers. In thegrains,
the criticalsupercurrent
can be ashigh
as108
A/cM2 ,
and theslope
of the critical fieldHC2
is of the order of a Tesla per Kelvin near the transitiontemperature
Tc.
Thereis, however,
another transitiontemperature
Tj
connected with the occurrence of bulksuperconductivity
in thesample,
due to the interactions between3124
the
grains through Josephson
links. At lowtemperatures,
the interaction Hamiltonian is written in the form[2] :
where 0
i is thephase
of the orderparameter
of the i-thgrain
withand
where
Iij
is the maximumJosephson
supercurrent
between the i-th andj-th grains,
d (T )
is thetemperature
dependent
energy gap, p . a is the normal state resistance of thejunction
and a is the distance between thegrains
[4].
The
Ambegaokar-Baratoff
formula(2)
can beapplied
to the case ofsuperconductor-insulator-superconductor
(S-I-S)
structures[5].
Then,
close toTc,
one obtains a lineartemperature
dependence
of the criticalsupercurrent,
IC:
Ic
oc(Tc - T).
In the case of
granular superconductivity,
a crossover to theGinzburg-Landau dependence,
Ic
oc(Tc -
T)3/2,
should be observed in thevicinity
ofTc,
due to thesuppression
of the orderparameter
through
the interaction between thegrains
[4].
TheGinzburg-Landau theory
should, however,
apply
away from the fluctuationregime,
which is believed to be wide in thehigh Tc
oxidesuperconductors
[6].
Thegoal
of our work is toinvestigate
the criticalregion
properties measuring
the field andtemperature
dependence
of the criticalJosephson
supercurrent.
BelowTj,
the process offreezing
of thequantum
phases
of the orderparameter
of thegrains begins.
The Hamiltonian(1)
is then notadequate
to describe the criticalregion
properties,
but some features describedby
(1)
are still valid. Amagnetic
field introduces frustration into thesystem.
This means that below thephase-locking
temperature
Tj
themagnetic
flux can be frozen in thesample.
Frustration is the mechanismleading
to theoccurrence of
pinning energies. Experimentally,
a remanence of themagnetisation,
time- andhistory-dependent
effects,
are observed in thesesuperconductors
for fields well below the first critical field for thegrains
[7].
Due tothis,
we canspeak
about the existence of a critical statein low
fields,
and attemperatures
belowTJ.
Further,
weapply
Bean’s critical statetheory,
in the versiondeveloped by
Goldfarb[8],
to obtain the criticalintergrain
supercurrent
from results on acsusceptibility.
This method was usedby
other authors[9],
and in our earlier work[10].
In the case of aregular
network ofexactly
identicalgrains,
the Hamiltonian of thesystem
isperiodic
in thefield,
and all measurableproperties,
such asTj,
should be alsoperiodic
in the field[2].
Because of the frustration causedby
disorder and themagnetic
field,
thisperiodicity
isdestroyed,
andTj
becomessmoothly decreasing
with theapplied
field[2,
11].
Aslarge
fluctuations of the orderparameter
exist aboveTj,
criticalsupercurrents
cannotbe measured at these
temperatures.
TJ (H)
is the border line between the normal state and bulksuperconductivity,
and can be determined from the occurrence of a smallsupercurrent
in thesample.
Results onIc(T, H)
from the ac method arecompared
with a Fraunhofer diffraction-likedependence, giving
values of the characteristic field for fluxtrapping by
theintergrain junctions,
Ho(T),
and the Peterson and Ekin[12]
scaling dependence
of2.
Expérimental
details.Ceramic
samples
3 mm in diameter and 5 mmlong
were obtainedby
the standard solid-state reaction method[13].
An acbridge
with two identical coils and AT resistors(with
a very smalltemperature
coefficient of theirresistances)
was immersed in aglass
cryostat,
with thesample
placed
in the middle of one of the coils. We were able to cause slowtemperature
runs(about
1 K permin)
of thesample.
Thetemperature
was monitored with a relative accuracy of about 0.1K,
using
a calibrated carbon resistor. Thecomplex
magnetic susceptibility
was measuredat 7 kHz
using
two lock-ins. Theexperimental
data were collectedby
amicrocomputer
connectedthrough
aninterface,
working
with voltmeters in IEC-625 standard. It would notbe
possible
inpractice
to obtain the resultspresented
here without such automation because of thelarge
numberof X
( T )
traces needed for theanalysis.
Thebackground signal
from thebridge
wascompensated
a fewdegrees
above the transitiontemperature,
and thephase angle
of thesusceptibility
wasadjusted
at a lowtemperature
in the case of a zero de field and atsmall
amplitude
of the ac field. The measurements were done with the ac and de fieldsparallel
to the axis of the
sample.
3. Results.
3.1 CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE AC SUSCEPTIBILITY. - The
temperature
depend-ences of
susceptibility
X’(T) (real part)
andX" ( T ) (imaginary part)
for differentamplitudes
and different de fields havealready
beenpublished
manytimes,
and we shallonly
summarise the maintypical
featuresof X
(T ;
Hac ;
Hdc) [7] :
i)
Ingood samples
at lowT,
x ’ (T) = -
1/4 ir and does notdepend
on thetemperature,
whileX"(T) = 0 .
ii)
Withincreasing
T,
X"(T)
goesthrough
a maximum at T =T *, and,
under certainconditions,
a second maximum at ahigher
temperature,
connected with the onset ofintragrain superconductivity.
For T = T*
(Hac, Hdc)’
the ac fieldpenetrates
exactly
to the middle of thesample
and,
forcylindrical infinitely long samples,
X" (T*) =
0.212/4 11’, and forT *,
the criticalsupercurrent
density
can be calculated from the relation[8] :
(Hac in
Oe,
Ic in
A/cm2,
r incm).
Thevalidity
of this formula is based on theassumption
of the existence of the critical state, and onIc being independent
of the field.iii)
Below a certain value ofHac,
of the order of 0.05 Oe in ourexperiments, independent
of the defield,
one is not able to see any difference between the tracesof X
(T)
for differentHac.
We will callTj
thetemperature
of theX "(T)
maximum for such lowHac.
Below thistemperature,
a smallmacroscopic
supercurrent
begins
to flow in the bulksample.
iv)
One does not measure the derivative of demagnetisation
in acsusceptibility
measurements. It is easy to obtain ac
susceptibility
close to - 1/4 7r insuperimposed
defields,
while the
slope
dM/dH
in the same fields wouldgive
much lower values of X. This means that the response of thesample
to a small disturbance(field)
variable in time is thenonequilibrium
one that has been discussed in models ofsuperconducting glasses
[2].
3126
Fig.
1. -Temperatures
of the maxima in theimaginary
part of the acsusceptibility
for fieldsHac
(left
verticalscale)
measured in zero external dc field.According
toequation
(3)
this curvecorresponds
to the temperaturedependence
of the critical supercurrent of thesample
(right
verticalscale).
The critical temperaturesTc
andTj
are markedby
arrows.Fig.
2. -Temperatures
of the maxima in the acsusceptibility
as a function of the dcapplied
field(vertical scale),
obtained for differentamplitudes
of the ac field. In thefigure,
a)
top)
correspond
to :0.025,
0.25,
0.5, 0.75, 1.0, 1.75, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, 17.5, 20, and 22.5,respectively,
in Oe. Thecurve for
Hac
= 0.025 Oe is theHJ(T) dependence.
fields. On the basis of this
assumption,
we willperform
measurements ofT*(Hdc)
forthe field
dependence
of the criticalJosephson
supercurrent.
SinceX(T)
depends
on thehistory
of thesample
[7]
all the datapresented
were obtained under the samefield-cooling
conditions. The reason for this is also the factthat,
during cooling
in thefield,
themagnetisation
of thesample
is much lower than in the case of zero-fieldcooling,
which allows us to assume with an accuracy sufficient for our later discussion that the internal de field isequal
to theapplied
de field.3.2 BULK CRITICAL JOSEPHSON SUPERCURRENTS. -
Figure
1presents
theamplitude
of the ac field(Hdc
=0)
as afunction
of thetemperatures
T* of theX"(T)
maxima, i. e. ,
it isIC(T)
according
to(3).
The characteristictemperatures
of thesample,
Tc
andTj,
are shownby
arrows. These results were discussed[10],
together
with the results for a series ofYBa2Cu3 _xFex07 -
5samples
with different iron contents. Measurements of thetemperatures
of the
X"(T)
maxima wereperformed
for de fields of up to100 Oe,
and the results fortemperatures
about 84 K arepresented
infigure
2 on the H- Tplane.
The lines connect thepoints
obtained for fixedamplitudes
of the acfields,
for fields from 0.025 Oe to 22.5Oe,
and are drawnonly
toguide
the eye. The curve obtained for 0.025 Oe can be assumed to be the border curve on the H Tplane
for the occurrence of bulksuperconductivity,
and we will call it the curve of critical field for theJosephson
supercurrent,
HJ (T ).
As wasalready
said,
one would obtain the same curve forHac
lower than about 0.05 Oe.4. Discussion.
4.1 CRITICAL FIELDS. - Measurements of
transport
critical currents as a function of the de field[14, 15]
have been discussed on the basis of a Fraunhofer diffraction-likedependence :
Because of
large
disorder,
thisequation
should beaveraged
over thejunction lengths
andorientations,
and suchaveraging
will smear out the structure inIC(T; H)
[12].
In(4),
Ho plays
the role of the critical field of theJosephson
junction
fortrapping
the fluxby
thejunction
itself. For some fixedtemperatures,
weplotted straight
vertical lines infigure
2, and,
in this way, obtained a set of fielddependences
ofIc
for thesetemperatures
(Fig. 3a).
We see astrong
suppression
of the current in fields of the order of a few Oe.Now,
for eachtemperature
infigure
3a,
we draw astraight
line with aslope corresponding
to the maximumslope
of theIc(H)
dependence,
as illustratedby
the broken curve for T = 84.5 K. Thedependence
ofHo
ontemperature
issurprisingly
close to linear(Fig. 3b),
although
the zero value ofHo
is obtainedby extrapolation
at atemperature
a littlehigher
thanTJ (o ).
Kwaket al.
[14]
report,
fromtransport
measurements, a smallnegative
curvature ofHo
withdecreasing
temperature
(measurements
of Ref.[14]
were done in a widertemperature
range).
Our values ofHo
are consistent with thesereports,
but are indisagreement
with our demeasurements on a Foner
magnetometer
(the
full circles inFig. 3b).
For differenttemperatures,
we haveplotted
smallhysteresis loops
ofmagnetisation
(inset
ofFig.
3b)
and,
for all theseloops,
weapplied
the sameprocedure
to obtain the lower characteristic de field(it
is not obvious where is the critical fieldHo
in such aloop ;
in the inset inFig.
3b,
this field is shownby
thearrow).
The fields obtained are very close tobeing
linear with T in thevicinity
ofTc, although they
are about five times smaller than those obtained from the acsusceptibility
procedure
-we believe this to be connected
mainly
with the timedependence
of the3128
Fig.
3. -a)
dc fielddependences
of the critical supercurrents(in
units ofHac amplitude, Eq.
(3))
for temperatures from 84.5 to 89.5 K(matched
in theFig. ),
obtainedby
the method described in the text.From
extrapolations
of the steepestportions
of the data to zero value ofHac,
as illustratedby
the broken line for T = 84.5 K, values of thejunction
critical fieldHo(T)
were obtained. These fields arerepresented by
open circles infigure
b, and the fit to them,represented by
the solid line, is discussed in the text. The inset in b shows a smallhysteresis loop
of the dcmagnetisation
at T = 4.2 K, and themethod of
obtaining
the characteristic dc field for theloop
markedby
the arrow. These fields(the
full circles inFig.
b)
arecompared
with theHo
measuredby
the ac method.The field
Ho depends
on thegeometrical
dimensions of thejunctions
and,
forlarge
junctions
(width
L >A J),
Ho
isgiven by :
where 03A60
is the fluxquantum, s
= a + 2 Àg,
with À g
being
the fieldpenetration depth
into thegrains
andÀj
thepenetration depth
into thejunction. À J depends
on theintergrain
criticalcurrent :
Since
À g
ishigh
in these materials and theseparation
between thegrains
issmall,
we can assume that s = 2The
key
tounderstanding
thetemperature
dependence
of1c
andHa is
the observation that the ac method measures thenonequilibrium
properties
of thesystem.
In eachexperiment,
themeasurements
give
an « average over the time » of somequantum-mechanical
«observ-ables ». The classical
equation
for thetunnelling
currentdensity
in asingle junction
is : I =le
sin8,
where 8 is thequantum
phase
difference across thejunction.
In our case, aboveTj,
fluctuations lead to 8 = 0and,
consequently,
to I = 0.Below,
Tj,
some average over time8 :F
0 is measuredby
determination of a finitesupercurrent.
It is easy to see thatTj
should befrequency dependent,
as has been obtained in[16].
This leads us to the conclusion thatHo
should bedependent
in a non-standard way on thetemperature
through
thedivergence
ofÀ J
atTj
rather than atTc:
where we have
assumed,
quite
arbitrarily,
thatIc cc
(Tj -
T)«.
In
figure
3a,
the solid line was drawnusing
equation (7)
with thefollowing
parameter
values :
Tc
= 93.7K,
Tj
= 90.2 K and a =1.25. If the BCSdependence
ofAg(T)
istaken,
then a
good
agreement
with the measured values ofle is
obtained withÀg(O)
of about 0.15 itm, a value close to those obtained in other ways[17].
kj
is then about 5 03BCm atT = 84.5 K.
Fig.
4. -Universal
scaling
of the fielddependence
of theJosephson
supercurrent obtained from the data offigure
2(see
thetext).
Thesymbols
from A to P refer to the values of theHac amplitudes
in the order offigure
2. Forcomparison,
a Fraunhofer diffraction-likedependence
is drawnby
the solid line,and the
dependence
of Peterson and Ekin[12],
calculated afterapplying
thespecific averaging
3130
4.2 UNIVERSAL SCALING OF
Ic(T, H).
- Asa result of our determination of
Ic(T, 0)
andHo(T),
we cantry
toplot
a universaltemperature
independent scaling
ofIc(H) (Fig. 4) :
where we are
using only
theexperimental points
offigure
2. Forcomparison,
the solid line shows the Fraunhofer diffraction-likedependence
of theJosephson
supercurrent
(Eq. (4)).
Quantitative agreement
between our fielddependence
of1c
and the measurements and calculations of Petersen and Ekin[12] (represented
by
the broken curve inFig.
4)
is obtained. It was one of our aims to show thisgood
accordance betweentransport
critical current measurements and the data derived fromsusceptibility
measurements,bearing
in mind all theapproximations
involvedby using
the latter method.4.3 CRITICAL STATE OF THE JOSEPHSON SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND THE GLASS TRANSITION.
- The critical lines
TJ(H)
for the occurrence of bulksuperconductivity
was shown in the paper of Barbara et al.[18],
wheresusceptibility
measurements werereported
for ceramic andsingle-crystal samples.
These authorssuggested
aspin-glass-like origin
of this critical line. There also exists a markedsimilarity
oftransport
results[19]
for the fielddependence
of the criticaltemperature
for appearance of a very small critical current. Thefrequency
dependence
ofTJ (H)
has been shown to scale in the same way as in thespin-glass
transition[16].
The border line between localised and delocalisedsuperconductivity
obtainedby
us isqualitatively
similar to that calculatedby
Aksenov andSergeenkov
[11]
for aspin glass
transition in disorderedsuperconductors.
Lastly,
Muller et al.[20]
reported
measurements of fluxpenetration
into ceramicsamples
in lowfields,
andsuccessfully applied
the critical state model ofJosephson superconductivity.
Their workjustifies
ourfindings
ofIc
from the measurements of losses. We are thusproposing
an alternative view of theorigin
of thepinning
forces in these materials. Wesuggest
thatspin-glass
likemechanism,
causedby
the frustration inducedby
disorder and themagnetic
field,
isleading
to the occurrence of frozen flux of themagnetic
field. Then there exist metastable states and energy barriers to overcome for flux motion. These barriers can behigher
than those for the mixed state ofJosephson superconductivity
without frustration. Theinterplay
between these two mechanisms of thebounding
in critical current measurements isnot clear to us.
-5. Conclusions.
We have used ac
complex
magnetic susceptibility
measurements to determine thedependence
of the criticalJosephson intergrain
supercurrent
on thetemperature,
close to thesupercon-ducting
transitiontemperature,
from the lossesX"(T).
We made measurements of criticalcurrents in different de fields. The results are consistent with
predictions
ofIC(H)
forJosephson junctions,
smeared outby large
disorder in thesample.
We obtained thetemperature
dependence
of the critical field fortrapping
the fluxby
thejunctions,
and thetemperature
dependence
of the critical field for occurrence of bulkJosephson
superconduc-tivity.
All the resultspresented
herestrongly
support
the existence of afield-dependent
superconducting
glass
state in theHTCS,
connected withintergrain
weak links. It wassuggested
that thisspin-glass-like
mechanism isresponsible
for fluxpinning
and the similarities to classical critical state behavior. Theproperties
measured arefrequency
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