Effect of pressure on the out-of-plane critical current and Tc of Bi-2201 and Bi-2212 single crystals

The authors used the hydrostatic pressure P < 1 GPa as a tool to change the c-axis critical current (interlayer coupling) of Bi-2201 and Bi-2212 single crystals. The c-axis critical current drastically increases with pressure (up to 270% GPa-1). The superconducting critical temperature, on the contrary, only slightly increases with a rate of approximately2--6% GPa-1. This implies that the CuO-interlayer coupling has little effect on Tc in Bi-compounds