2003/07/22 by Sergei Sergeenkov
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.supr-con #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
published as "New Developments in Superconductivity Research" (ed. Ross W. Stevens, Nova Science, New York, 2003), pp.101-129 · 28 pages, 5 EPS figures; to appear as a Chapter in "Horizons in Superconductivity Research" (ed. F. Columbus, Nova Science, New York, 2003)
arxiv created 2003/07/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
A unified approach for description of the anomalous critical current enhancement in dislocated, deoxygenated, and particle irradiated superconductors is proposed based on a novel concept of "active pinning" (pinning via external fields modified intrinsic Josephson junctions) and existence of various competitive forces affecting a rather delicate balance between extended defects (dislocations) and point defects (oxygen vacancies) inside a crystal. The proposed scenario implies that practically any treatment of the superconducting sample (such as sintering, melt-texturing, silver coating, thermal and mechanical treatment, oxygenation/deoxygenation process, particle irradiation, application of high magnetic and electric fields) will inevitably result in a "self-organized" rearrangement of the pre-treated defect structure of the material to optimize its pinning ability.