Neutron texture analysis of melt-textured YBCO bulk samples

Abstract

Neutron texture measurements on YBCO bulk samples show a very sharp texture of the superconducting phase YBa2Cu3O7-x with half-widths of less than 5°. Even with a rather coarse measurement grid of only 722 points per complete pole figure, satisfactory results for the recalculated (002) pole figures could be obtained. However, for a reliable calculation of a complete ODF, finer grids will have to be used. Due to the importance of a good alignment of the c-axes in the material, a quantitative analysis of the (002) pole figures, including an error estimation due to measurement grid and counting statistics, was made. An outline for the determination of a reliable background estimate is given.