VIBRATING SUPERCONDUCTORS

This review is concerned with effects in the energy dissipation and elastic modulus of superconductors vibrating in a magnetic field. The physics of superconducting vibrating reeds and reeds made of superconducting suspensions is thoroughly described as well as the main features observed in other oscillators applied to flux pinning studies. It is argued that among the diversity of methods to study superconducting and pinning properties as a function of magnetic field and temperature, the vibrating reed technique is one of the most sensitive due to the accurate measurement of frequency and dissipation with feasible magnetometry applications. Results of the elastic coupling between the flux line lattice and the atomic lattice in high- and low-T(c) superconductors obtained with the vibrating reed are summarized as well as the behavior of vibrating type II superconductors near their lower critical field. Results from mechanical measurements in high-temperature superconductors are reviewed, which support the model of thermally activated depinning and vortex diffusion.