Neon ion irradiation studies on MgB2 superconductor

Abstract

Abstract:160 MeV Neon ion irradiation has been carried out on MgB 2 polycrystalline pellets at various doses. There has not been any significant change in Tc except at the highest dose of 1x10 15 ions/cm 2 . Increase in resistivity has been noticed. Resistivity data have been fitted with BlochGrüneisen function and the values of Debye temperature, residual resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistivity have been extracted for irradiated as well as unirradiated samples. The increase in the resistivity of irradiated samples has been explained in the light of damage in the 3D π bonding network of Boron.

Magnetization measurements of neon ion irradiated MgB2superconductors

“…In the case of heavy ion irradiation, there is a decrease in J c though the change in T c is negligible. We had also observed insignificant changes in T c and Debye temperature by neon ion radiation on polycrystalline MgB 2 [17]. In this paper we discuss the magnetization measurements of polycrystalline MgB 2 and effects of neon ion irradiation on magnetic properties.…”

Control of superconductivity in MgB2 by ion bombardment

“…While there have been many reports on radiation effects in MgB 2 [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], most have focused on the effects of either neutron irradiation [15][16][17][18][19] or bombardment with high-energy ions [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] that create intense electronic excitation along ion tracks, in the so-called swift heavy ion (SHI) regime. Interest in SHI irradiation of MgB 2 was stimulated by observations of a spectacular increase in J c in SHI-irradiated cuprate superconductors [11,12].…”

“…Here, SHI irradiation creates quasione-dimensional ion tracks that act as effective flux pinning centers. All attempts to replicate such a large J c increase in SHI-irradiated MgB 2 have been unsuccessful, and most have observed minimal radiation-induced changes to T c [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. This failing is likely because amorphous ion tracks form along the trajectories of SHIs only in certain non-metallic materials systems [32], while elemental and binary metals (such as MgB 2 ) are not glass formers.…”