Hysteresis measurement of anomalous microwave surface resistance in superconducting thin films

Abstract

The anomalous decrease in microwave surface resistance, R_{s}, of superconducting YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{7-d} (YBCO) thin films in the presence of a low dc magnetic field is studied using a microstrip resonator technique. We have done a dc field hysteresis measurement of R_{s} to study the effects of vortex penetration on the anomalous effect. It is shown that the anomaly happens at a field level far below the low critical field, H_{c1,strip}, of the superconducting microstrip and vortex (Abrikosov) penetration would eliminate the anomalous effect observed at low field. This implies that the anomalous effect is not contributed by vortices.