Processing of erbium doped high-T/sub c/ superconductor YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ single crystals for improved flux pinning

The effect of selected rare earth (RE) oxide addition on growth behavior of large single crystals and the superconducting properties of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ (Y123) was investigated. The results show that even a small amount (<1 mol %) of rare earth addition can have a significant effect on the flux pinning capacity of Y123 single crystals. It was further observed that for Nd and Yb the continuous crystal growth became very unstable for additions greater then 1 mol % while crystal growth remains stable even for additions up to 30 mol % Er/sub 2/BaCuO/sub 5/. Magnetization measurements on RE-doped Y123 single domains revealed relatively high J/sub c/, values as compared to undoped Y123 single crystals.