Quantum creep and pinning properties of oxygen-deficient YBa2Cu3Oxn films

Abstract

A high sensitivity capacitance torquemeter has been used for a comprehensive investigation of the induced current densities and dynamic relaxation rates in a YBa2Cu3Oxn film with nominal oxygen content varying between xn=6.55 and xn=7.0. The dynamic relaxation rate Q does not extrapolate to zero at T=0 K, indicating the presence of quantum creep. By changing the oxygen content of the film it is possible to investigate the relation between the quantum creep rate Q(0) and the normal-state resistivity ρn(0) at low temperature. Although Q(0) increases monotonically with ρn, it is found that Q(0) is not proportional to ρn(0), in contrast to the predictions of a theory based on dissipative tunneling of collectively pinned single vortices [Blatter et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 1125 (1994)]. The experimental results imply that in YBa2Cu3O7 quantum creep takes place in a transition regime between Hall tunneling and dissipative tunneling. For lower oxygen contents the quantum creep regime moves towards the dissipative limit. For each oxygen content the characteristic pinning energy Uc(0) at T=0 is obtained by a linear extrapolation to T= 0 K of the T/Q versus T curves. The critical current density jc at T=0 is determined independently by a linear extrapolation of the measured lnjs versus T curves. A power-law relation Uc(0)∝[jc(0)]p with p≊ 0.5 is found, indicating single vortex pinning at higher temperatures. This is confirmed by a detailed analysis of the measured current densities and relaxation rates by means of the generalized inversion scheme developed by Schnack et al. [Phys. Rev. B 48, 13 178 (1993)]. For xn≥ 6.6 at Be= 0.6 T and for xn≥ 6.7 at Be= 2.0 T the calculated temperature dependence of jc and Uc agrees remarkably well with a model based on three-dimensional single vortex pinning caused by spatial fluctuations in the charge carrier mean free path. At lower oxygen contents and higher magnetic-fields the agreement gradually breaks down due to the increasing importance of thermal fluctuations.