Abstract: Bitter decorations of the vortices in twinned single crystal YBCO have been obtained to study the disordered structure formed on successive cooldowns of the sample under the same conditions of field and temperature. Between succesive decorations, the iron dots could be removed completely, giving a surface clean enough for further decoration. It was found that successive realizations of the disordered vortex state were very similar at long range, and differed mostly on short scales, compared to the average vortex separation. We have quantified the correlation between successive structures, and double sided decorations have been also performed to compare with the extent of spatial correlation in the applied field direction. The coincidence of the position of the vortices in successive realizations of the structure, is unexpected, and indicates an unusual behavior for a glassy system. Our technique makes it possible to image the position of the vortices in detail and repeatedly, providing us with a model amorphous system in which to study the reproducibility of the disordered structure.

Abstract: We present a systematic study of the oxygen overdoping effects on the de magnetization loops of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta single crystalline samples. The overdoping is produced by high oxygen pressure (from 1 to 190 bar) annealing at 500 degreesC. The super conducting critical temperature and the c-axis lattice parameter are used to identify the oxygen content of the samples. The dc magnetization loop measurements are performed with the applied magnetic field parallel to the c-axis of the crystals. The characteristic second peak in the magnetization is present far all the investigated oxygen contents. We show that the position of this second peak and the irreversibility field increase monotonically as a function of oxygen doping.

Abstract: We have performed Bitter decoration and ac susceptibility measurements in single-crystal YBa2Cu3O7-delta with oriented twin boundaries. The twin boundaries (TB's) pin vortices over approximately 65% of the sample. The pinned areas are unevenly distributed and some relatively large TB-free regions are present. The Bitter decorations were performed in a 52 Oe de magnetic field rotated off the c axis so that the plane defined by the field direction and the c axis is perpendicular to the TB's. Several decorations were performed in the same sample. Additional dynamical information was obtained from ac susceptibility measurements. Results show that for small tilts the vortices remain locked to the c-axis direction, for angles greater than 12 degrees they form a staircase pattern, and in this case pinning by the twin boundaries remains effective up to 75 degrees. We observe vortex chains in twin-free-zones of the sample for tilted fields at 65 degrees and 40 degrees. Due to our particular experimental arrangement, in the twinned regions the interplay of the potentials giving rise to the chains and the pinning potential produces a structure with a disordered square symmetry. The data allow us to estimate the dominant energy of the vortex system for some inclinations of the applied magnetic field.

Abstract: We have studied the response of the vortex lattice (VL) in a YBa2Cu3O7-delta sample with oriented twin boundaries (TB's) and in an untwinned sample. In the twinned sample the density of twin boundaries is estimated from decoration experiments. The TB's affect the liquid-to-solid transition in the vortex structure, which is of first order in the twin free crystal and to a Bose glass in the twinned sample. We measure the ac susceptibility, and find that the response strongly depends on the orientation of the probing ac field with respect to the TB's. The ac field produces a tilting stress on the vortices. With the applied de magnetic field H-dc parallel to the c axis, the response of the VL is weaker when the tilt is parallel to the TB's than when it is perpendicular or at 45 degrees to the TB's. The results are explained by the fact that the VL is locked to the twin boundaries for small deviations of H-dc from the c axis and is partially pinned to them for larger angles. By measuring over the whole angular range we estimate the angles over which each regime is realized for different temperatures. The results of the detwinned sample are used for comparison.

Abstract: Kondo insulator materials(1)-such as CeRhAs, CeRhSb, YbB12, Ce3Bi4Pt3 and SmB6-are 3d, 4f and 5f intermetallic compounds that have attracted considerable interest in recent years(2-5). At high temperatures, they behave like metals. But as temperature is reduced, an energy gap opens in the conduction band at the Fermi energy and the materials become insulating. This contrasts with other f-electron compounds, which are metallic at all temperatures. The formation of the gap in Kondo insulators has been proposed to be a consequence of hybridization between the conduction band and the f-electron levels(6,7), giving a 'spin' gap. If this is indeed the case, metallic behaviour should be recovered when the gap is closed by changing external parameters, such as magnetic field or pressure. Some experimental evidence suggests that the gap can be closed in SmB6 (refs 5, 8) and YbB12 (ref. 9). Here we present specific-heat measurements of Ce3Bi4Pt3 in d.c. and pulsed magnetic fields up to 60 tesla. Numerical results and the analysis of our data using the Coqblin-Schrieffer model demonstrate unambiguously a field-induced insulator-to-metal transition.