Giant increase in critical current density of KxFe2-ySe2 single crystals

Abstract

By using post-annealing and quenching technique, we show that the critical current density Jc,ab of KxFe2-ySe2 single crystals can be enhanced more than one order of magnitude up to ~ 2.1 \times 10^4 A/cm^2 at 1.8 K. The scaling law between normalized pinning force and reduced field for all measured temperatures was observed, reflecting the presence of only one dominant pinning mechanism. Analysis indicates presence of 3D point-like normal core pinning sources in quenched KxFe2-ySe2 samples whereas dominant vortex interaction with pinning centers is via spatial variations in Tc ("deltaTc pinning").