In this work, we report the discovery of a vortex pinning source: semicrystalline defect wells in self-aligned nanostructured MgB2. It is demonstrated that these aperiodic regions trap numerous crystal defects migrating along nanodomain boundaries during self-alignment and act as intense vortex pinning centers that significantly enhance the high-field performance of MgB2. This suggests that the density of trapped defects in the wells is much greater than that found in other vortex pinning sources.

Smooth modulation structure of Mg–B alloy in the quenched reaction product of Mg and amorphous B was studied. It indicates that the MgB2 formed possibly in spinodal decomposition, thus resulting in MgB2 nanodomains. It was found that the nanodomains with small angle boundaries of atomic-scale width were distributed within the subgrains that constitute the clusters in MgB2 grains. This nanostructural characteristic may be intrinsic in the quenched reaction product of Mg and amorphous B. It makes the nanodomain boundaries not act as barriers to the current percolation path, thus exhibiting no weak-link problem in the MgB2.

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