Study of current–voltage characteristics of Bi-based high-temperature superconductors with fractal cluster structure

We study the effect of the structure on critical currents and current–voltage characteristics (CVC’s) of foamed bismuth-based polycrystalline high-temperature superconductors (HTSC). The fractal cluster structure of superconducting foams has been observed and the fractal dimension of boundaries between superconducting and normal clusters has been determined. Based on the magnetic and transport properties of the foamed polycrystalline superconductors, we have shown that the initial parts of CVC’s of the superconducting foams are described well by the model that accounts the magnetic flux trapping in fractal clusters of a normal phase.