Effects of thermal relaxation on an amorphous superconducting Zr–Rh alloy

Abstract

The electronic and superconducting properties of an amorphous transition metal alloy are used to evaluate the effects of low-temperature annealing. It is observed that the superconducting transition temperature and the electrical resistivity relax exponentially in time from their initial value to a final relaxed value. From this an activation energy for the relaxation process is derived and an explanation is suggested which involves internal stress.