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The effect of hydrostatic pressure up to 12 kbar on the electrical resistance in the basal ab-plane of optimally oxygen-doped (δ<0.1) single crystals Y1–xPrxBa2Cu3O7–δ moderately doped with praseodymium (x≈0.23) with a critical temperature Tc≈67 K. Compared to undoped single-crystal YBa2Cu3O7–δ, doping with praseodymium led to a decrease in the critical temperature by ≈24 K with a simultaneous increase in ρab (300 K) by ≈130 μΩcm. In the region of the transition to the superconducting state, several clearly pronounced peaks are observed on the dρ/dT – T curves, which indicates the presence of several phases with different critical temperatures in the sample. The application of high hydrostatic pressure leads to an increase in Tc by about 3 K. This increase slows down with increasing pressure, and the baric derivatives, dTc/dP, decrease from 0.44 K/kbar at atmospheric pressure to 0.14 K/kbar at 11 kbar. The comparatively weak change in the critical temperature under the action of hydrostatic pressure is due to the relatively small value of the orthorhombic distortion, (a–b)/a. The change in the baric derivative dTc/dP upon all-round compression of the sample is due to the fact that, along with an increase in the Debye temperature, the matrix element of the electron-phonon interaction also increases. Possible mechanisms of the effect of high pressure on Tc are discussed taking into account the presence of features in the electronic spectrum of carriers.

A comparative analysis of the changes in the fluctuation conductivity and characteristics of the superconducting state of YBa2Cu3O7–δ single crystals caused by various types of defects is carried out. These defects appeared due to irradiation with high-energy electrons (radiation doses from 1.4 to 8.8 1018 cm–2), changes in oxygen deficiency (0.08 ≤ δ ≤ 0.23) due to annealing at different temperatures, or doping with praseodymium (Y1–zPrzBa2Cu3O7−δ, 0 ≤ z ≤ 0.5 at optimal oxygen concentration). It is shown that the introduction of such defects leads to a significant expansion of the temperature range of the existence of excess conductivity, and upon doping with praseodymium, it also leads to the appearance of a thermally activated deflection on the temperature dependence of the electrical resistance. The effect of such defects on the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, and the coherence length along the c axis, ξc(0), is studied. In particular, ξc(0) more than quadruples (at z = 0.43), while the 2D-3D crossover point shifts towards higher temperatures. Possible reasons for the suppression of superconductivity in YBa2Cu3O7–δ upon irradiation with fast electrons and the qualitatively different temperature dependences of its resistivity in the basal plane, ρab (T), are discussed.

The effect of high hydrostatic pressure up to 12 kbar on the electrical resistivity in the basal ab plane of an optimally doped Y0.77Pr0.23Ba2Cu3O7−δ single crystal was studied. An inhomogeneity of the sample is found that does not depend on the applied pressure, P. The Tc(P) dependence increases nonlinearly with increasing P, and the value of the baric derivative, dTc/dP, decreases. Possible mechanisms of the effect of high pressure on Tc are discussed, taking into account the presence of features in the electronic spectrum of charge carriers.

We study the temperature dependence of the in-plane magneto-resistance ρab(T) in the untwined YBa2Cu3O7−δ single crystals after irradiation by fast electrons (energy 0.5–2.5 MeV, dose 1018 cm−2), also with a small oxygen hypostoichiometry at different angles between the external magnetic field 15 kOe and the ab-planes α. We found that at high temperatures in the pseudogap region external magnetic field does not affect the ρab(T), but it broadens transitional region Tc – Tc0 from 0.3 K at zero field and α = 0 to approximately 6 K at α = 90° in the field. In the case of an unirradiated sample, ρab(T) display a 3D to 2D dimensional crossover when temperature decreases from Tc to Tc0 and scaling near the Tc0 which we relate to the flux-flow and vortex-lattice melting. The reasons for the appearance of low-temperature “tails” (paracoherent transitions) on resistive transitions corresponding to different phase regimes of the vortex matter are discussed.