paper

Lower critical field and intragrain critical current density in the ruthenate-cuprate RuSrGdCeCuO

arXiv:cond-mat/0511718 · doi:10.1140/epjb/e2006-00043-y

Abstract

The lower critical field of the grains, , and the intragrain critical current density, , were determined for the superconducting ruthenate-cuprate RuSrGdCeCuO [Ru-1222(Gd)] through a systematic study of the hysteresis in magnetoresistance loops. A reliable method, based on the effects of the magnetization of the grains on the net local field at the intergranular junctions is provided, circumventing the problem of the strong masking of the superconducting diamagnetic signal by the ferromagnetic background. The temperature dependency of and both exhibit a smooth increase on cooling without saturation down to 0.2. The obtained values vary between 150 and 1500 Oe in the 0.2 0.4 interval, for samples annealed in an oxygen flow; oxygenation under high pressure (50 atm) leads to a further increase. These values are much larger than the previously reported rough assessments (25-50 Oe), using conventional magnetization measurements. High values of 10 A/cm, comparable to the high-T cuprates, were obtained. The and dependencies are explained in the context of a magnetic phase separation scenario.

7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal B