Thermal diffusivity and laser melting of YBa2Cu3O7superconductor

Abstract
The temperature variation of the thermal diffusivity of ceramic samples of the YBa2Cu3O7 superconductor was measured using the laser flash method. Melting of the same material was investigated using laser pulses of 7 ms duration at a wavelength of 1.06 mu m. The melt threshold and variation of melt depth with laser fluence were compared with a one-dimensional computer simulation of the laser heating using the measured thermal diffusivity.