Ac-magnetic susceptibility in the peak-effect region of Nb$_3$Sn

TL;DR

This study investigates the ac magnetic susceptibility of Nb3Sn single crystals near the peak-effect region, revealing distinct behaviors in real and imaginary parts linked to flux dynamics and critical-current enhancement.

Contribution

It provides a detailed experimental analysis of ac susceptibility in Nb3Sn, introducing a flux-creep model to explain the observed peak behaviors near Hc2.

Findings

Real part shows a single peak that grows with magnetic field.

Imaginary part exhibits a peak that splits into two at higher fields.

Flux-creep model explains the splitting and peak behaviors.

Abstract

We performed a systematic study of the ac magnetic-susceptibility on a Nb3Sn single crystal which displays a strong peak effect near the upper critical field Hc2. In external magnetic fields above 3 T, the peak effect manifests itself in a single, distinct peak in the real part of the ac susceptibility as a function of temperature T, the size of which continuously increases with increasing magnetic field H. In the imaginary part of the ac susceptibility, on the other hand, a single peak initially grows with increasing H up to a well-defined value, and then splits into two sharp peaks which separate when H is further increased. We explain this surprising behavior by a flux-creep model and taking into account the enhancement of the critical-current density in the peak-effect region near Tc in which Bean's critical-state model seems to apply. Outside this region, the crystal is clearly in a flux-creep regime with finite creep exponent n.