Enhanced Pinning Properties of Laser-Irradiated Bulk MgB2 Superconductors

In order to investigate the effect of laser irradiation on the superconducting properties of MgB2, a pellet-shaped sample was produced and cut into two pieces. The dot-shaped molten patterns, with the distance of 100 µm between them, were formed on the surface of one of the pieces by using an Nd:YVO4 laser. The grains of the irradiated sample were significantly grown due to the laser-induced sintering. The modified surface appeared to have dense and compacted grains as a result of increasing interconnectivity among the superconducting grains. The critical current densities at 5 K in a field of 3 T were found to be 5.38 × 104 and 8.96 × 104 A cm−2 for the reference and the irradiated samples, respectively. The increment of critical current density for the irradiated sample is presumably connected with the changing of pinning mechanism after the laser irradiation. For the irradiated sample which showed a higher value of critical current density at 5 K under high fields, Δκ pinning was obtained as a dominant pinning mechanism, while the normal point pinning was dominant for the reference one. These results point out that the superconducting properties of bulk MgB2 can be changed and improved via laser irradiation in a short time.