Near-oscillatory relaxation behavior of levitation force in infiltration and growth processed bulk YBCO/Ag superconducting composites

Time relaxation behavior of levitation force has been studied in IGP bulk YBCO/Ag superconductor using levitation force measurements as these measurements throw light on the magnetic relaxation in superconductors and the underlying vortex dynamics, pinning mechanisms and the nature of pinning forces. The measurements have revealed a hitherto unknown near-oscillatory relaxation of the levitation force with varying magnetic field. This kind of behavior is found to be more pronounced at smaller gap distances between the permanent magnet and the superconductor. A switch-type polarity bistable equilibrium model for the supercurrent structure has been proposed based on the understanding that even the permanent magnet gets magnetized in the presence of the superconductor, which has also been verified and reported here. This model satisfactorily explains the observed oscillatory behavior of relaxation rates. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.