Investigation of the effect of slow neutron irradiation on halogen-doped high- T C superconductors and its mechanism

Irradiation effect of low-fluence (~108 n/cm2) slow neutrons on halogen-doped superconductors is presented in this paper. And the mechanism of the effect is also described from the viewpoint of nuclear physics for both fast and slow neutrons on high-temperature superconductors (HTSC). It is shown experimentally and theoretically that slow neutrons of low fluence has a similar irradiation effect to that of fast neutron beams with an energy En > 0.1 MeV and fluence 1016 - 1018 n/cm2. However, quite different mechanisms are involved in them: Fast neutrons transfer their energies through elastic scattering in HTSC, whereas slow neutrons give off their energies during the slow neutron capture (n, γ) reaction.