Hole concentrations, Hall number, and Tc relationships in substituted YBa2Cu3Oy.
One of the fundamental questions involving the high-temperature copper oxide containing superconductors is to understand the relationship between hole concentration and the superconducting transition temperature, T,. We help resolve this question by a study of Nd-, La-, Ga-, Ca-, and Zn-substituted YBa2Cu30~ with controlled oxygen stoichiometry. The total hole concentration is determined by a chemical method and trends in the mobile hole concentration by Hall measurements. By considering T, to be a function of the mobile sheet holes only, there is a maximum in T, (92 K) at a sheet-hole concentration of about 0.20-0.25 per Cu site. The importance of the hole concentration in Cu oxide containing superconductors is widely recognized and its relationship to the superconducting transition temperature (T, ) has been the object of numerous studies. ' '2 The hole concentration, which we call p, is an electron deficiency and can be determined chemically, as well as by Hall measurements. Although it is generally accepted that it is associated with the oxygen rather than the copper, i.e., 0, the chemistry of its determination is identical to that of Cu + or a hole in the copper-oxygen band. The Hall measurement is complimentary to the chemical measurement since it measures only the mobile holes. Previously, using both techniques we showed a rather linear relationship existed between T, and p in the La2 Sr„Cu04 system (for p &0.15) and discussed the possible T, vs p relationship in the 1:2:3-type materials, e.g. , YBa2Cu30». ' Our data suggested a possible relationship between the two systems if similar hole concentrations per sheet (CuOz), which we showed reached a maximum at about 0.15 in the one-sheet La2 „Sr,Cu04 system, could be produced in each of the two sheets of the 1:2:3 materials. Torrance et al. ' further studied the
Effects of Zn doping on YBaCuO superconductor
In this work we present a study of Zn impurity effects on the YBa2Cu3O7–δ high Tc superconducting ceramics prepared by the solid state reaction method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques, and resistivity measurements are used to characterize the YBa(Cu1–xZnx)3O7–δ samples. The obtained results show that, for example, the value of the transition critical temperature is decreasing up to 80 K caused by the substitution of Zn for Cu in the interval 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.01. Also, the peritectic transformation of superconducting phase undergoes a displacement to lower temperatures compared with pure YBaCuO. On the basis of the obtained results, the effects of Zn doping on the structural and electronic properties are explained. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Superfluidity and superconductivity in the universe
The paper aims to elucidate the current status of the problem concerning the existence and observation of superfluid and superconducting states in the universe, that is, under cosmic conditions. Following an introduction, the paper discusses Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, and superconductivity; possibilities for the occurrence of superfluidity and superconductivity under cosmic conditions; superconductivity of dense, degenerate electron plasma (large planets, white dwarfs); superfluidity and superconductivity in neutron stars; and finally superfluidity in a cosmological neutrino “sea.”