Theory and experiment testing flux-line-cutting physics

We discuss predictions of five proposed theories for the critical state of type-II superconductors accounting for both flux cutting and flux transport (depinning). The theories predict different behaviours for the ratio $E_y/E_z$ of the transverse and parallel components of the in-plane electric field produced just above the critical current of a type-II superconducting slab as a function of the angle of an in-plane applied magnetic field. We present experimental results measured using an epitaxially grown YBCO thin film favoring one of the five theories: the extended elliptic critical-state model. We conclude that when the current density $\bm J$ is neither parallel nor perpendicular to the local magnetic flux density $\bm B$, both flux cutting and flux transport occur simultaneously when $J$ exceeds the critical current density $J_c$, indicating an intimate relationship between flux cutting and depinning. We also conclude that the dynamical properties of the superconductor when $J$ exceeds $J_c$ depend in detail upon two nonlinear effective resistivities for flux cutting ($ρ_c$) and flux flow ($ρ_f$) and their ratio $r= ρ_c/ρ_f$.

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