Determination of the precise upper critical field of YNi2B2C superconductor

Abstract

The paramagnetic susceptibility of YNi2B2C single crystal in a high magnetic field is found to be about 2 × 10-5 cm3/mol, which is one order of magnitude smaller than the previous reports. The paramagnetic behavior is caused by the sample impurity, not by the intrinsic magnetism of the YNi2B2C superconductor and shows simple Curie-Weiss behavior. In this case, an upper critical field of the YNi2B2C can be easily obtained by extracting the paramagnetic contribution. The upper critical field shows an anomalous behavior, the steep rising at the low temperature region. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.