Multiple magnetization peaks in weakly pinned Ca3Rh4Sn13 and YBa2Cu3O7-delta

Abstract

The second magnetization peak and the peak effect anomaly coexisting in a given isothermal magnetization hysteresis loop show striking similarities in Ca3Rh4Sn13, a low-T-c superconductor and YBa2Cu3O7-delta, a high T-c superconductor. The observed variation of the hysteresis width with field could imply a modulation in the degree of the plastic deformation of the elastic vortex solid. The characteristics of the high-T-c cuprates, such as large Ginzburg number, short coherence length, decoupling of the Josephson coupled pancake vortices, etc., are unlikely to be the cause of the observed behavior.