The collective nature of a flux creep in high-T _c superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O _x as observed in microwave absorption experiments

Abstract

Studies of the flux lattice dynamics via microwave absorption measurements with the help of an ESR spectrometer are presented. The experiments give evidence that for the temperatures below 35 K the absorbed power depends on the input microwave power in a non-linear way. For the case of absorption due to the motion of vortexes via thermally activated flux creep this corresponds to the dependence of the activation barrier on the current density. The measurements lead to the conclusion, that the activation barrier should grow with decreasing current. Fitting of the expression for the dissipated power obtained in terms of the collective creep theory to the obtained experimental data enable us to determine the character of pinning and creep at small amplitudes of the external exciting current. The obtained numerical values give evidence that the flux lattice is frozen in a vortex-glass state and in the limit of zero current the resistance at finite temperatures vanishes.