Defect-induced weak collective pinning in superconducting YB₆ crystals

In a previous study (2017 Phys. Rev. B 96 144501), a strong variation in the superconducting transition temperature T _c of YB₆ differing by a factor of two has been explained by a change in the density of yttrium and boron vacancies tuning the electron-phonon interaction. Here, by using an array of miniature Hall probes, we address the penetration of the magnetic field, pinning, and critical current density on a series of YB₆ single crystals with T _c variation between 4.25 and 7.35 K. The analysis of the superconducting and normal-state specific heat characteristics allowed us to determine T _c and the stoichiometry of our samples. We observed almost no pinning in the most stoichiometric YB₆ crystal with the lowest T _c. Upon increasing the number of vacancies weak pinning appears, and the critical current density is enhanced following the increased transition temperature in a linear variation. We argue that such an increase is, within weak collective pinning theory, consistent with the increasing number of vacancies that serve as pinning centers.