Published June 7, 2015 | Version v1
Journal article

Critical magnetic fields of superconducting aluminum-substituted Ba8Si42Al4 clathrate

  • 1. School of Engineering, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico 00681-9000 (United States)
  • 2. Department of Physics, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico 00681 (United States)
  • 3. Communications Research Centre (CRC), Industry Canada, 3701 Carling Avenue, Box 11490, Station H, Ottawa, Ontario K2H 8S2 (Canada)
  • 4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China)
  • 5. Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083 (China)
  • 6. Department of Chemistry and Physics, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, North Carolina 28301 (United States)
  • 7. Department of Mathematics, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, Texas 78541 (United States)

Description

In recent years, efforts have been made to explore the superconductivity of clathrates containing crystalline frameworks of group-IV elements. The superconducting silicon clathrate is unusual in that the structure is dominated by strong sp3 covalent bonds between silicon atoms, rather than the metallic bonding that is more typical of traditional superconductors. This paper reports on critical magnetic fields of superconducting Al-substituted silicon clathrates, which were investigated by transport, ac susceptibility, and dc magnetization measurements in magnetic fields up to 90 kOe. For the sample Ba8Si42Al4, the critical magnetic fields were measured to be HC1 = 40.2 Oe and HC2 = 66.4 kOe. The London penetration depth of 4360 Å and the coherence length 70 Å were obtained, whereas the estimated Ginzburg–Landau parameter of κ = 62 revealed that Ba8Si42Al4 is a strong type-II superconductor

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Journal of Applied Physics
Journal Volume
117
Journal Issue
21
Journal Page Range
p. 213912-213912.5
ISSN
0021-8979
CODEN
JAPIAU

Optional Information

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