We discuss experimental results obtained using a tunable cylindrical coaxial cavity constituted by an outer Cu cylinder and an inner Pb-BSCCO wire. We have used this device for investigating the microwave response of the superconducting wire, both in
the linear and nonlinear regimes. In particular, by tuning the different modes of the cavity to make them resonant at exactly harmonic frequencies, we have detected the power emitted by the superconducting inner wire at the second- and third-harmonic frequency of the driving field. The results obtained in the nonlinear regime, whether for the microwave surface impedance or the harmonic emission, are qualitatively accounted for considering intergrain fluxon dynamics. The use of this kind of device can be of strong interest to investigate and characterise wires of large dimensions to be used for implementing superconducting-based microwave devices.
The AC susceptibility at zero DC magnetic field of a polycrystalline sample of LaFeAsO_{0.94}F_{0.06} (T_c = 24 K) has been investigated as a function of the temperature, the amplitude of the AC magnetic field (in the range Hac = 0.003 - 4 Oe) and th
e frequency (in the range f = 10 kHz - 100 kHz). The temperature dependence of the AC susceptibility exhibits the typical two-step transition arising from the combined response of superconduncting grains and intergranular weak-coupled medium. The intergranular part of the susceptibility strongly depends on both the amplitude and the frequency of the AC driving field, from few Kelvin below T_c down to T = 4.2 K. Our results show that, in the investigated sample, the intergrain critical current is not determined by pinning of Josephson vortices but by Josephson critical current across neighboring grains.
We discuss on the electromagnetic response of a polycrystalline sample of LaO_0.94F_0.06FeAs exposed to DC magnetic fields up to 10 kOe. The low- and high-frequency responses have been investigated by measuring the AC susceptibility at 100 kHz and th
e microwave surface resistance at 9.6 GHz. At low as well as high DC magnetic fields, the susceptibility strongly depends on the amplitude of the AC driving field, highlighting enhanced nonlinear effects. The field dependence of the AC susceptibility exhibits a magnetic hysteresis that can be justified considering the intragrain-field-penetration effects on the intergrain critical current density. The microwave surface resistance exhibits a clockwise magnetic hysteresis, which cannot be justified in the framework of the critical-state models of the Abrikosov-fluxon lattice; it may have the same origin as that detected in the susceptibility.
We report on the microwave properties of a resonant cylindrical cavity made of bulk MgB2 superconductor, produced by the reactive liquid Mg infiltration process. The frequency response of the cavity has been measured in the range 5-13GHz. Among the v
arious modes, the TE011, resonating at 9.79GHz, exhibits the highest quality factor. For this mode, we have determined the temperature dependence of the quality factor, obtaining values of the order of 10^5 in the temperature range 4.2-30K. The values of the surface resistance deduced from the measurements of the quality factor agree quite well with those independently measured in a small sample of MgB2 extracted from the same specimen from which the cavity has been obtained.
