Specific-heat studies of neutron-irradiatedA15Nb3Al

Abstract

The specific heat of neutron-irradiated ${\mathrm{Nb}}_3$Al has been measured in the temperature range 1.3-25 K for fluences of 1.3 × ${10}^{18}$ and 1.3 × ${10}^{19}$ n/${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ ($E>\mathrm{}1\mathrm{}$ MeV). A reduction in the superconducting transition temperature is accompanied by an increase in transition width with increasing fluence. The Debye temperature increases 20%, and the electronic density of states shows a slight decrease that is within error limits, relative to the unirradiated material.