Magnetostriction of superconductors (a review)

Abstract

The results of magnetostriction studies of different superconducting compounds made during the last several years are presented. Special attention is paid to giant magnetostriction and “superconducting background” against which it emerges. The results are compared with the traditional magnetostriction components in magnetic materials. Possibilities of using magnetostriction measurements for analysis of the mixed state in hard superconductors and practical applications of the results of such measurements are considered.

Magnetostriction in the mixed state of superconducting 2H-NbSe2 single crystals

“…Previous works [1][2][3][4] describe how the vortex flux pinning by the lattice is clearly shown from magnetostriction measurements at the superconducting regime, as we believe to have observed in the present 2H-NbSe 2 also. First of all and most important is the already mentioned strong hysteresis shown by the λ(c, a) and λ(a, a) modes, similar to the magnetization hysteresis, which is assigned to pinning effects.…”

“…The recent magnetostriction measurements performed in the mixed state of superconductors, the so-called Shubnikov phase has proved to be the alternative tool for studying interplay between the Abrikosov flux line lattice (FLL) and crystal lattice [1][2][3][4]. Though unambiguous manifestation of pinning phenomena in the irreversible magnetostriction was obtained some questions are still open.…”

Anisotropic thermal expansion and magnetostriction of YNi2B2C single crystals

“…5. Magnetostriction in superconducting state depends on number of parameters, including the extrinsic ones, like shape of the sample, pinning strength and its field dependence [24,25,26,27]. Moreover, irreversible flux pinning induced magnetostriction causes (geometrydependent) shape distortions [26,28] that add additional requirements on mounting of the sample in the experimental cell for detailed study of the critical superconducting state via magnetostriction.…”

Magnetic phase transitions in the system La1−xBixMnO3+λ

“…These compounds contain ions with orbital degeneracy or Jahn-Teller (JT) ions (in our case Mn 3+ ) [1]. Thus their properties differ appreciably from those of the corresponding substances with the «ordinary» ions: the crystal structure turn out to be distorted, structural phase transitions and transitions in a magnetic subsystem [2][3][4][5][6] are frequently observed in them, and in many cases they have anomalously strong magnetic anisotropy and magnetostriction [7,8]. Such phenomena are connected with an interaction of the JT ions and are called the cooperative Jahn-Teller effect (CJTE).…”