Thermally assisted flux flow at small driving forces

Abstract

The theory for thermally assisted flux flow (TAFF) in the limit of small driving forces is used to derive exact expressions for the time-dependent behaviour of the magnetisation and permeability. The problem is especially relevant for the high-temperature superconductors where large variations of the transition temperature in small DC fields are observed as a function of the frequency of the probing AC field. The parameters of the theory are extensively discussed in relation to the present understanding of flux pinning.