Dislocation Inertial Effects in the Plasticity of Superconductors

It is shown that radiation damping is weak enough so that all dislocation segments in superconductors are underdamped at low enough temperatures. Consequently, a dislocation impinging on a barrier in the superconducting state overshoots its static-equilibrium position, exerting an additional force on the obstacle, thereby increasing the plasticity. The inertial model gives a quantitative account of available observations on the size of the effect and its dependence on temperature, magnetic field, deformation, and purity.