DEFECT DYNAMICS STUDIES IN ION-IRRADIATED CUPRATE SUPERCONDUCTORS

The present work reports the results of in-situ resistivity measuremen t in thick films of YBCO while they were irradiated by Ag, Ni and O io ns in the MeV range obtained from the pelletron at NSC, New Delhi. The resistance measurement was done in-situ in seconds interval to probe into the system evolution during irradiation and after the beam is swi tched off. The irradiated samples were thin enough so that the induced damage can be described by matrix atom displacement without implantat ion of the incident ion. Monitoring of the transient response of the s ystem as it is driven away from equilibrium by ion irradiation and ifs recovery to a steady state during beam off period has thrown light on the various competing processes that lead to the system evolution on ion irradiation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd All rights reserved.