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Measurement of the penetration depth and coherence length of MgB2 in all directions using transmission electron microscopy


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Authors

Loudon, JC 
Yazdi, S 
Kasama, T 
Zhigadlo, ND 
Karpinski, J 

Abstract

We demonstrate that images of flux vortices in a superconductor taken with a transmission electron microscope can be used to measure the penetration depth and coherence length in all directions at the same temperature and magnetic field. This is particularly useful for MgB2, where these quantities vary with the applied magnetic field and values are difficult to obtain at low field or in the c-direction. We obtained images of flux vortices from an MgB2 single crystal cut in the ac plane by focussed ion beam milling and tilted to 45∘ with respect to the electron beam about its a axis. A new method was developed to simulate these images which accounted for vortices with a non-zero core in a thin, anisotropic superconductor and a simplex algorithm was used to make a quantitative comparison between the images and simulations to measure the penetration depths and coherence lengths. This gave penetration depths Λab=100±35 nm and Λc=120±15 nm at 10.8 K in a field of 4.8 mT. The large error in Λab is a consequence of tilting the sample about a and had it been tilted about c, the errors would be reversed. Thus, obtaining the most precise values requires taking images of the flux lattice with the sample tilted in more than one direction. In a previous paper, we obtained a more precise value using a sample cut in the ab plane. Using this value gives Λab=107±8 nm, Λc=120±15 nm, ξab=39±11 nm and ξc=35±10 nm which agree well with measurements made using other techniques. The experiment required two days to conduct and does not require large-scale facilities. It was performed on a very small sample: 30×15 microns and 200 nm thick so this method could prove useful for characterising new superconductors where only small single crystals are available.

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Keywords

cond-mat.supr-con, cond-mat.supr-con, cond-mat.str-el

Journal Title

Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1098-0121
1550-235X

Volume Title

91

Publisher

American Physical Society (APS)
Sponsorship
This work was funded by the Royal Society. Work at Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule, Zürich was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the National Center of Competence in Research programme “Materials with Novel Electronic Properties.”