Abstract: The linear temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity has been taken to be one of the characteristic features of the ceramic superconductors. Measurements of the electrical resistance of the LaSrCuO system in a wide temperature range show that the previous statement is only an approximation valid for some values of the Sr concentration.

Abstract: New double perovskites LaPbMSbO₆, where M²⁺ = Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, and Ni²⁺, were synthesized as polycrystals by an aqueous synthetic route at temperatures below 1000 ^°C. All samples are monoclinic, space group P2₁/n, as it is observed from Rietveld analysis of X-ray powder diffraction patterns. The distribution of M²⁺ and Sb⁵⁺ among the two octahedral sites have 3% of disorder for M²⁺ = Ni²⁺, whereas for M²⁺ = Mn²⁺ and Co²⁺ less disorder is found. The three samples have an antiferromagnetic transition, due to the antiferromagnetic coupling between M^{2 +} through super-superexchange paths M²⁺-O^2--Sb⁵⁺-O^2--M²⁺. Transition temperatures are low: 8, 10 and 17 K for Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, and Ni^{2 +} respectively, as a consequence of the relatively long distances between the magnetic ions M²⁺. Besides, for LaPbMnSbO₆ a small transition at 45 K was found, with ferrimagnetic characteristics, possibly as a consequence of a small disorder between Mn²⁺ and Sb⁵⁺. This disorder would give additional and shorter interaction paths: superexchange Mn²⁺-O^2--Mn²⁺.

Abstract: The electrical resistivity of the superconductor La1.80Sr0.20Cu04-? has been measured in a wide range of temperatures as a function of oxygen and vacuum heat treatments. The resistivity changes reversibly orders of magnitude with oxygen concentration. There is no sign of saturation at high temperatures, even for samples where the resistivity is increased by heat treatment in vacuum. Using the experimental data and general arguments it is concluded that the ceramic superconductors are high ? materials in the clean limit.

Abstract: Measurement of the response of the flux-line lattice in NbSe2 and La1.825Sr0.075CuO4 show important differences between these two materials. In particular, we have studied the magnetic-field and angular dependence of the response of a high-Q mechanical oscillator in fields of up to 1 T. The features seen in NbSe2 seem to be well explained in terms of a change in the pinning regime, usually termed the “peak effect” in the critical current, using the collective-pinning model of Larkin and Ovchivnikov within Ginzburg-Landau anisotropic theory. On the other hand the behavior found in the high-Tc material LSCO seems to fall naturally into a description which takes into account the possibility of phase transitions in the vortex lattice and the quasi-two-dimensional character of the superconductivity.