Irreversibility line and magnetic field dependence of the critical current in superconducting MgB2 bulk samples

The third harmonic components of the ac susceptibility of MgB2 bulk samples have been measured as a function of applied magnetic fields, together with standard magnetization cycles. The irreversibility line (IL) of the magnetic field has been extracted from the onset of the third harmonic components. Using a (1 - t)a glass/liquid best fit where α = 1.27 IL shows a coherent length ξ divergence with exponent v = 0.63, which indicates a 3D behaviour. Moreover, using the numerical solution of the non-linear magnetic diffusion equation, considering the creep model in a 3D vortex glass, a good description of the vortex dynamics has been obtained. The behaviour of the magnetization amplitude (∼Hz) and the ac susceptibility signals (kHz), at different applied magnetic fields, 3.5 T < Hdc < 4.5 T, and at the reduced temperature 0.86 < t < 0.93 (T = 22 K), shows that the superconducting dynamic response of vortices in the MgB2 samples is not evidently dependent on the frequency.