Pulsed current measurement of the resistive transition and critical current in high Tc superconductors.

A pulsed current technique for measuring the critical transport properties of superconductors as a continuous function of current or temperature is described. Greatly reduced sample heating permits investigation of both the "weak link" and intrinsic properties of granular superconductors. Results obtained for various high T[sub c] oxide superconductors provide an example of the technique's application. Both intergranular and intragranular critical current densities are extracted from the data. Current-voltage measurements using the pulse method are corroborated by traditional dc measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]