Flux Creep in the Quasi-1D Superconducting Carbide Sc3CoC4

Abstract

The superconducting flux dynamic of the transition metal carbide Sc3CoC4 which exhibits a quasi-one-dimensional structure is studied. Besides zero-field- cooling (zfc), field-cooling (fc) and magnetization measurements, especially flux creep relaxation experiments are performed. The relaxation rates S = dM/dlnt are determined at selected temperatures below the transition temperature Tc in two magnetic fields of 50 Oe and 100 Oe just above Hc1. The resulting supercurrent dependence on the mean activation energy is analyzed according to the collective pinning theory which predicts U ∼ ((j/jc)-μ –1). The calculated μ-values differ in the high and low temperature region. The μ-values below about 2.5 K are ≈ 0.5 - 0.68 depending slightly on the applied magnetic field whereas at higher temperatures the μ-values are ≈ 0.22 - 0.34. These results might indicate a transition between different types of vortex pinning around 2.5 K changing from single vortex creep at higher temperatures to collective creep of vortex bundles at lower temperatures.