Abstract: We report on magnetisation of individual superconducting particles with size down to 0.1 micron. The non-invasive access to properties of such small objects has become possible using submicron Hall probes which detect a local magnetic field and work effectively as micro-fluxmeters similar to, e.g., SQUIDs but with an effective detection loop of only about a square micron. We have found that the spatial confinement of superconductivity in a small volume gives rise to dramatic changes in thermodynamic properties of mesoscopic superconductors. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.

Abstract: The split diffuse maxima around the {110} and {100} positions in the diffraction pattern of short-range-ordered Cu1-xPdx alloys (x=0.10...0.60) are attributed to small atomic clusters, being part of the underlying fee lattice. By analyzing the reciprocal space geometry, our cluster method identifies two prominent cluster types: the tetrahedron of nearest neighbors and a linear three-points cluster along the [110] directions. Since both cluster types contain different information on the same nearest-neighbor correlations, local anisotropy has to be assumed. It is shown that the three interatomic pair interactions within these basic clusters are sufficient to generate the spot splitting in the diffraction pattern. A ground-state analysis with these interactions reproduces the results of the anisotropic next-nearest-neighbor Ising model.