The effect of carbohydrate doping on lattice parameters, microstructure, Tc, Jc, Hirr, and Hc2 of MgB2 has been studied. In this work the authors used malic acid as an example of carbohydrates as an additive to MgB2. The advantages of carbohydrate doping include homogeneous mixing of precursor powders, avoidance of expansive nanoadditives, production of highly reactive C, and significant enhancement in Jc, Hirr, and Hc2 of MgB2, compared to undoped samples. The Jc for MgB2+30wt% C4H6O5 sample was increased by a factor of 21 at 5K and 8T without degradation of self-field Jc.

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Magnetic field and angle dependences of the critical current density J c ͑H , ͒ in epitaxial c-oriented YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−␦ thin films are measured by the four-probe transport current technique, low-frequency ac magnetic susceptibility, and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry. The films under study are deposited by off-axis dc magnetron sputtering onto r-cut sapphire substrates buffered with a CeO 2 layer. A consistent model of vortex pining and supercurrent limitation is developed and discussed. Rows of growthinduced out-of-plane edge dislocations forming low-angle boundaries ͑LAB's͒ are shown to play a key role in achievement of the highest critical current density J c ജ 2 ϫ 10 6 A/cm 2 at 77 K. The model takes into account the transparency of LAB's for supercurrent as well as the pinning of vortex lattice on a network of LAB's. Principal statistical parameters of the film defect structure, such as the domain size distribution and mean misorientation angle, are extracted from J c ͑H͒ curves measured in a magnetic field H applied parallel to the c axis and from x-ray diffraction data. An evolution of angle dependences J c ͑͒ with H is shown to be consistent with the model supposing dominant pinning on edge dislocations. Strongly pinned vortices parallel to the c axis appear to exist in tilted low magnetic fields up to a characteristic threshold field, below which the magnetic induction within the film obeys a simple relation B = H cos . This feature is shown to explain the absence of the expected maximum of J c ͑͒ at H ʈ c in a low applied field. A peak of J c ͑H͒ and an angular hysteresis of J c ͑͒, which have been observed in an intermediate-field range, are discussed in terms of film thickness, surface quality, and orientation of the applied field. The observed effects are found to be consistent with the developed model. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.73.054508 PACS number͑s͒: 74.25.Sv, 74.72.Bk, 74.78.Bz lated disorder ͑e.g., by random pointlike pins͒, the J c ͑H , ͒ dependence is determined by a single parameter H͑cos 2 + 2 sin 2 ͒ 1/2 , 12,13 where = ͱ m ab / m c is the anisotropy parameter, =1/5-1/7 for YBCO. For the monotonic decreasing J c ͑H , =0͒ dependence the scaling naturally yields the J c ͑H = const, ͒ dependence with a minimum at = 0 and a maximum at = /2.Moreover, a maximum of the J c ͑H , ͒ dependence at H ʈ c was shown ͑e.g., Ref. 6͒ to be absent for YBCO films. Ironically, many researchers considered this observation to be strong evidence for the absence of out-of-plane linear pins or their ineffectiveness for vortex pinning in epitaxial films. In a contrast, recently Maiorov et al. have observed the J c ͑H , ͒ peak at H ʈ c. 14 The maximum does exist and tends to shift PHYSICAL REVIEW B 73, 054508 ͑2006͒

By doping MgB2 superconductor with SiC nano-particles, we have successfully introduced pinning sites directly into the crystal lattice of MgB2 grains (intra-grain pinning). It became possible due to the combination of counter-balanced Si and C co-substitution for B, leading to a large number of intra-granular dislocations and the dispersed nano-size impurities induced by the substitution. The magnetic field dependence of the critical current density was significantly improved in a wide temperature range, whereas the transition temperature in the sample MgB2(SiC)x having x = 0.34, the highest doping level prepared, dropped only by 2.6 K.

We investigated the effect of SiC nano-particle doping on the crystal lattice structure, critical temperature Tc, critical current density Jc, and flux pinning in MgB2 superconductor. A series of MgB2−x(SiC) x/2 samples with x = 0 to 1.0 were fabricated using in-situ reaction process. The contraction of the lattice and depression of Tc with increasing SiC doping level remained rather small due to the counter-balanced effect of Si and C co-doping. The high level Si and C co-doping allowed the creation of intra-grain defects and highly dispersed nano-inclusions within the grains which can act as effective pinning centers for vortices, improving Jc behavior as a function of the applied magnetic field. The enhanced pinning is mainly attributable to the substitution-induced defects and a local structure fluctuations within grains. A pinning mechanism is proposed to account for different contributions of different defects in MgB2−x(SiC) x/2 superconductors.