engleski

A Transport and Microwave Study of Superconducting and Magnetic RuSr_2EuCu_2O_8

We have performed ac susceptibility, thermopower, dc resistance and microwave measurements on RuSr_2EuCu_2O_8. This compound has recently been shown to display the coexistence of both superconducting and magnetic order. We find clear evidence of changes in the dc and microwave resistance near the magnetic ordering temperature (132 K). The intergranular effects were separated from the intragranular effects by performing microwave measurements on a sintered ceramic sample as well as on a powder sample dispersed in an epoxy resin. We show that the data can be interpreted in terms of the normal-state resistivity being dominated by the CuO_2 layers with exchange coupling to the Ru moments in the RuO_2 layers. Furthermore, most of the normal-state semiconductor-like upturn in the microwave resistance is found to arise from intergranular transport. The data in the superconducting state can be consistently interpreted in terms of intergranular weak-links and an intragranular spontaneous vortex phase due to the ferromagnetic component of the magnetization arising from the RuO_2 planes.

superconductivity; high-Tc compounds; surface impedance; transport properties

nije evidentirano