GROWTH AND STUDY OF SINGLE-PHASE 2212 BSCCO WHISKERS OF SUBMICRON CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA

The growth of perfect single-phase (2212) superconducting BSCCO whiske rs with cross-sectional area S as small as 0.1 mum2 is described. Subm icron cross section whiskers are shown to have perfect crystalline str ucture, some of them being free of dislocations. The critical current density of the whiskers, J(c), is shown to increase as S decreases < 1 mum2 achieving 5 X 10(5) A/CM2 for S = 0.15 gm2. The temperature depe ndence of resistivity rho(T) of submicron whiskers in contrast to bulk -like single crystals exhibits a prominent deviation DELTArho down fro m linear temperature dependence rho(N) up to T approximately 200 K. DE LTArho is shown to be proportional to S-1: DELTArho/rhoN S-1 exp (- T0 /T0), T0 = 40 K. The origin of DELTArho due to one-dimensional (1D) su perconducting fluctuations is discussed.