Suppression of superconducting critical current density by small flux jumps in MgB₂ thin films

By doing magnetization measurements during magnetic field sweeps on thin films of the new superconductor MgB₂, it is found that in a low-temperature and low-field region small flux jumps are taking place. This effect strongly suppresses the central magnetization peak leading to reduced nominal superconducting critical current density at low temperatures. A borderline for this effect to occur is determined on the field-temperature (H-T) phase diagram. It is suggested that the small size of the flux jumps in films is due to the higher density of small defects and the relatively easy thermal diffusion in thin films in comparison with bulk samples.