Enhancement of flux pinning in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 by 180 MeV Cu11+ irradiation

Abstract

180 MeV Cu11+ irradiation was done on the c-axis grain oriented Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 tapes. Irradiation enhanced hysteresis in dc magnetization curves, especially in high magnetic fields. The irreversibility line can be moved to higher field by irradiation. Transport Jc is also enhanced by the irradiation of the small fluences. The irradiation produced large (∼100 nm) and small (∼5 nm) defects. They are effective for flux pinning in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8.