Effect of annealing on the physical properties of RuSr2GdCu2O8 sintered samples and a discussion about magnetic measurements performed by SQUID magnetometer

Abstract

In this paper we present the physical characterization of sintered RuSr2GdCu2O8 samples prepared with different procedures. In particular we show how the physical properties are affected by the final step, which is one week annealing in flowing Oxygen, and how extensively the annealing procedure affects the visibility of the superconducting behaviour. Moreover, we analyse the complexity of the d.c. magnetic measurements performed on such type of samples below the superconducting transition and the possibility to decode them.