Enhanced flux pinning in neutron irradiated MgB2

Abstract

We study the effect of neutron irradiation on the critical current density Jc of isotopically pure polycrystalline Mg11B2 samples. For fluences in the range 1017-1018 cm-2, Jc is enhanced and its dependence on magnetic field is significantly improved: we demonstrate that, in this regime, point-like pinning centers are effectively introduced in the system proportionally to the neutron fluence. Instead, for larger fluences, a strong suppression of the critical temperature accompanied by a decrease of both the upper critical field Bc2 and Jc is found.