Vortex instability and the normal state at low temperatures Article uri icon

abstract

  • The motion of flux vortices in Y1Ba2Cu3O7-δ has been studied in the low temperature limit (T ∼ 2%25 of Tc) at extreme current and dissipation densities (P/V ∼ 109 W/cm3). Beyond the regime where flux motion is driven into free flow, occurs an instability that seems to arise from a suppression of the order parameter. The critical resistivity at the point of instability is roughly twice the free-flux-flow value ρ*/ρn ∼ 2ρf ∼ 2B/Hc2, allowing an estimation of the illusive normal-state resistivity, ρn, in the zero-temperature limit. The estimated ρn saturates to a finite residual value, like a conventional elemental superconductor, and the vortex dissipation continues to be finite as T → 0. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

publication date

  • 2000-01-01