Interlayer electrical transport in Bi-2212 intrinsic Josephson junctions

The field and temperature dependence of the critical current I-c has been investigated on the intrinsic Josephson junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta single crystals. Under the magnetic fields at a few kG along the c-axis, I-c shows a distinct maximum at approximate to 20 K, which possibly corresponds to an anomaly observed in the recent plasma-resonance measurements. The field dependence of I-c exhibits power-law behavior, as predicted theoretically for the Josephson-coupled layered superconductors in a strong pinning regime. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.