Anisotropy of the magnetoresistance hysteresis in the granular superconductor Y-Ba-Cu-O at different magnetic-field and transport-current orientations

Dissipation in granular high-temperature superconductors (HTSs) during the passage of macroscopic transport current j is mainly determined by carrier tunneling through intergrain boundaries (Josephson junctions). In the presence of external magnetic field H, it is necessary to take into account the significant magnetic flux compression, which can lead to the situation when the effective field B_eff in the intergrain boundaries exceeds the external field by an order of magnitude. This is observed as a wide hysteresis of the field dependence of magnetoresistance R(H). In this study, we investigate the R(H) hysteresis evolution in granular 1–2-3 HTSs in different j–H orientations. The magnetic flux compression significantly affects the magnetoresistance and its hysteresis for both perpendicular (H ⊥ j) and parallel (H ǁ j) orientations. The obtained experimental data on the R(H) hysteresis at the arbitrary angles θ = ∠H, j are explained using the approach developed for describing the magnetoresistance hysteresis in granular HTSs with regard to the magnetic flux compression and the model representations proposed by Daghero et al. [Phys. Rev. B 66(13), 11478 (2002)]. A concept of the effective field in the intergrain medium explains the well-known anisotropy of the magnetotransport properties of granular HTSs.