The current-induced breakdown of superconductivity in Zn and Zn-Ag alloy whiskers close to the critical temperature has been investigated. Above the critical current I c the superconductor enters a dissipative state with characteristics showing a regular voltage step structure due to the appearance of phase-slip centers. For short samples there is an influence of the superconducting contacts. Unaffected phase-slip centers are only observed in long samples. For this case the temperature-independent quasiparticle relaxation time is found to be 3.2 × 10−8 sec. For the zero-voltage intercept I 0 a value of 0.56 I c is obtained.
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Schulz, U., Tidecks, R. Dissipative state of superconducting zinc whiskers. J Low Temp Phys 71, 151–171 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115047
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00115047