Strong Enhancement of the Critical Current at the Antiferromagnetic Transition in ErNi2B2C Single Crystals

TL;DR

This study demonstrates a significant increase in the critical current density in ErNi2B2C single crystals at the antiferromagnetic transition, linked to vortex pinning enhancement due to antiphase boundaries.

Contribution

First angular transport measurements of Jc on ErNi2B2C revealing the correlation between magnetic transition and vortex pinning enhancement.

Findings

Jc peaks at the Neel temperature TN

Jc peak decreases with increasing magnetic field

Pinning enhancement attributed to antiphase boundaries

Abstract

We report on transport and magnetization measurements of the critical current density Jc in ErNi2B2C single crystals that show strongly enhanced vortex pinning at the Neel temperature TN and low applied fields. The height of the observed Jc peak decreases with increasing magnetic field in clear contrast with that of the peak effect found at the upper critical field. We also performed the first angular transport measurements of Jc ever conducted on this compound. They reveal the correlated nature of this pinning enhancement, which we attribute to the formation of antiphase boundaries at TN.