Abstract
The discovery of superconductivity at 39 K in magnesium diboride1 offers the possibility of a new class of low-cost, high-performance superconducting materials for magnets and electronic applications. This compound has twice the transition temperature of Nb3Sn and four times that of Nb-Ti alloy, and the vital prerequisite of strongly linked current flow has already been demonstrated2,3,4,5. One possible drawback, however, is that the magnetic field at which superconductivity is destroyed is modest. Furthermore, the field which limits the range of practical applications—the irreversibility field H*(T)—is approximately 7 T at liquid helium temperature (4.2 K), significantly lower than about 10 T for Nb-Ti (ref. 6) and ∼20 T for Nb3Sn (ref. 7). Here we show that MgB2 thin films that are alloyed with oxygen can exhibit a much steeper temperature dependence of H*(T) than is observed in bulk materials, yielding an H* value at 4.2 K greater than 14 T. In addition, very high critical current densities at 4.2 K are achieved: 1 MA cm-2 at 1 T and 105 A cm-2 at 10 T. These results demonstrate that MgB2 has potential for high-field superconducting applications.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nagamatsu, J., Nakagawa, N., Muranaka, T., Zenitani, Y. & Akimitsu, J. Superconductivity at 39 K in magnesium diboride. Nature 410, 63–64 (2001).
Larbalestier, D. C. et al. Strongly linked current flow in polycrystalline forms of the superconductor MgB2. Nature 410, 186–189 (2001).
Bud'ko, S. L. et al. Boron isotope effect in superconducting MgB2. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1877–1880 (2001).
Finnemore, D. K., Ostenson, J. E., Bud'ko, S. L., Lapertot, G. & Canfield, P. C. Thermodynamic and transport properties of superconducting Mg10B2. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2420–2422 (2001).
Canfield, P. C. et al. Superconductivity in dense MgB2 wires. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2423–2426 (2001).
Lee, P. J. in Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ed. Webster, J. G.) Vol. 21, 75–87 (Wiley, New York, 1999).
Smathers, D. B. in Metals Handbook 10th edn Vol. 2, Properties and Selection: Nonferrous Alloys and Special-Purpose Materials 1060–1076 (ASM Intl, 1990).
Slusky, J. S. et al. Loss of superconductivity with the addition of Al to MgB2 and a structural transition in Mg1-xAlxB2. Nature 410, 343–345 (2001).
Müller, K.-H. et al. The upper critical field in superconducting MgB2. Preprint cond-mat/0102517 at 〈xxx.lanl.gov〉 (2001).
Takano, Y. et al. Superconducting properties of MgB2 bulk materials prepared by high pressure sintering. Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 2914–2916 (2001).
Bugoslavsky, Y., Perkins, G. K., Qi, X., Cohen, L. F. & Caplin, A. D. Critical currents and vortex dynamics in superconducting MgB2. Nature 410, 563–565 (2001).
Gyorgy, E. M., van Dover, R. B., Jackson, K. A., Schneemeyer, L. F. & Waszzak, J. V. Anisotropic critical currents in Ba2YCu3O7 analyzed using an extended Bean model. Appl. Phys. Lett. 55, 263–265 (1989).
Kang, W. N., Kim, H.-J., Choi, E.-M., Jung, C. U. & Lee, S.-I. Epitaxial MgB2 superconducting thin films with a transition temperature of 39 kelvin. Science (in the press).
Orlando, T. P., McNiff, E. J. Jr, Foner, S. & Beasley, M. R. Critical fields, Pauli paramagnetic limiting, and material parameters of Nb3Sn and V3Si. Phys. Rev. B 19, 4545–4561 (1979).
Wang, Y., Plackowski, T. & Junod, A. Specific heat in the superconducting and normal state (2–300 K, 0–16 T), and magnetic susceptibility of the 38-K superconductor MgB2: Evidence for a multicomponent gap. Preprint cond-mat/0103181 at 〈xxx.lanl.gov〉 (2001).
Dew-Hughes, D. The role of grain boundaries in determining Jc in high-field, high-current superconductors. Phil. Mag. 55, 459–479 (1987).
Campbell, A. M. & Evetts, J. E. Flux vortices and transport currents in type II superconductors. Adv. Phys. 21, 199–428 (1972).
Gurevich, A. & Cooley, L. D. Anisotropic flux pinning in a network of planar defects. Phys. Rev. B 50, 13563–13576 (1994).
Acknowledgements
The work at the University of Wisconsin was supported by funding from the US Department of Energy, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Science Foundation through the Materials Research Science and Education Center for Nanostructured Materials and a David Lucile Packard Fellowship (C.B.E.). The work at Princeton University was supported by the National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Eom, C., Lee, M., Choi, J. et al. High critical current density and enhanced irreversibility field in superconducting MgB2 thin films. Nature 411, 558–560 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35079018
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35079018
This article is cited by
-
Influence of Hydrocarbon Doping on Critical Current Density and Percolation Behavior of MgB2
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2022)
-
High-field superconductivity in C-doped MgB2 bulk samples prepared by a rapid synthesis route
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
The study of normalized pinning force behavior in Mg1−xTixB2 superconductor
Indian Journal of Physics (2020)
-
Mixed-state magnetotransport properties of MgB2 thin film prepared by pulsed laser deposition on an Al2O3 substrate
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (2019)
-
Effect of Ag Addition on the Surface Topography and the Vibrational Dynamics of MgB2
Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism (2018)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
