PERCOLATION AND GLASS BEHAVIOR IN CERAMIC SUPERCONDUCTORS: OXYGEN EFFECTS

Abstract

It is shown that small variations of oxygen content in La 1.8 Sr 0.2 CuO 4−δ can be used to control the reversible and irreversible magnetization temperature dependence of the superconducting state. A grain bond model is appropriate to describe the superconducting response of the ceramics. The study of the temperature dependence of the magnetization and the resistive transition temperature, in a slightly deoxygenated sample, show that the reversible superconducting state is strongly correlated to superconducting percolation. Deoxygenation has been shown to be an excellent technique to study the time evolution of metastable states induced by currents in the bonds and or in the grains. It is shown that superconducting grains are not correlated to ceramic grains.