Critical currents after thermal neutron irradiation of uranium doped superconductors

Abstract

Fission fragment damage was introduced into aligned sintered samples of various superconductors containing small additions of UO2 by irradiation with thermal neutrons. Samples of aligned, sintered YBa2Cu3Ox, powdered Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2Oy, powdered Bi1.7Pb0.3Sr2Ca2Cu3Oz, and epitaxial films of YBa2Cu3Ox on (100)SrTiO3 were used. Magnetic hysteresis, with the critical state model, was used to evaluate changes in the intragranular critical current. In the case of the Bi1.7Pb0.3Sr2Ca2Cu3Oz powders an increase in intragranular Jc at 0.8 T of greater than 70 times was produced by the radiation. The epitaxial film showed no change in Jc on irradiation. This behavior upon irradiation is attributed to the pinning caused by damage produced by the fission products of uranium.