https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050294
Magnetothermal instabilities in an organic superconductor
Laboratoire
de Physique des Solides, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS,
91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Corresponding author: a fruchter@lps.u-psud.fr
Received:
11
December
1997
Revised:
15
January
1998
Accepted:
31
March
1998
Published online: 15 May 1998
We have studied the occurrence of magnetothermal instabilities in a
single crystal during field sweep magnetization experiments,
equivalent to short time relaxation studies. We find instability behaviour in good agreement
with a recent model by Mints, for a non-linear E(J) characteristic. In particular, we find that a
decrease of the dynamic relaxation rate, characterizing the effective activation energy,
precedes the unstable regime. We point out formal analogies between such instabilities and
the general predictions for flux avalanches.
PACS: 74.60.Ge – Flux pinning, flux creep, and flux-line lattice dynamics / 74.70.Kn – Organic superconductors
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1998