A new family of high temperature superconductors based on Pb2Sr2YCu3O9−δ has recently been reported. One method of improving Tc has been to replace Y partially with Ca. Although the basic structure of this type of superconductors is known, the detailed structure is still unclear, and various space groups has been proposed. In our work, crystals of Pb2Sr2YCu3O9−δ with dimensions up to 1 × 1 × 0.25.mm and with Tc of 84 K have been grown and their superconducting properties described. The defects and crystal symmetry have been investigated using electron microscopy performed on crushed crystals supported on a holey carbon film.Electron diffraction confirmed x-ray diffraction results which showed that the crystals are primitive orthorhombic with a=0.5383, b=0.5423 and c=1.5765 nm. Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (CBED) patterns for the and axes are shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.
Crystal symmetry lowering in chiral multiferroic
Ba3TaFe3Si2O14
observed by x-ray magnetic scattering