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Observation of Hexagonally Ordered Flux Quanta in YBa2Cu3O7

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

P. L. Gammel
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
D. J. Bishop
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
G. J. Dolan
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
J. R. Kwo
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
C. A. Murray
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
L. F. Schneemeyer
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
J. V. Waszczak
Affiliation:
AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill, NJ 07974
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Abstract

The high resolution Bitter Pattern technique has been used to reveal the structure of the array of flux lines which is present when single crystal samples of the high Tc superconductor YBa2Cu3O7 are placed in a magnetic field. At 4.2K with the magnetic field parallel to the c axis, the patterns formed are strongly reminiscent of the analogous structures in ordinary type II superconductors. The structures typically consist of flux spots with short range hexagonal correlations. We interpret the patterns to consist of singly quantized vortices. Very uniform patterns are observed in thin, flat samples cooled in a constant field. Sampling the spot density yields a vortex density consistent with a flux quantum of hc/2e.

Experiments at 77K, the only other temperature studied, showed no spatially varying magnetic structure. Recent mechanical measurements which are sensitive to the bulk modulus and dissipation within the vortex lattice show evidence for a mobility transition near 75K, which would be consistent with this observation. We believe this stems from materials properties rather than some more fundamental property of the new superconductors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1988

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References

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