Simultaneous introduction of scattering and pinning in organic rare-earth salt doped MgB₂ tapes

MgB₂ tapes with organic rare-earth salt additions were prepared by the in situ powder-in-tube processing method. Compared to the undoped tapes, the transport J_c are greatly improved by organic rare-earth salt doping. In addition, magnetization measurements showed an enhancement of flux pinning. Organic rare-earth salt doping not only enhances the upper critical field by increasing electron scattering, but also introduces precipitates and structural defects to improve the flux pinning. The results suggest that organic rare-earth salt has to be considered as a promising dopant for enhancing the current capacity of MgB₂ conductors.