Determination of oxygen content in high T_c superconductors by a charged particle activation method

A new method for determining the oxygen content in high T_c superconductors has been demonstrated using a charged particle activation technique. This method allows a measurement of the concentration of ¹⁶O atoms in the superconducting material by detection of the ¹⁷F produced with the ¹⁶O(d,n) ¹⁷F nuclear reaction. By way of example, this technique is applied to the determination of oxygen content in a series of high T _c Y-Ba-Cu-O samples in which the stoichiometry is varied by reducing the copper concentration. The stabilized oxygen content shows a nonlinear dependence on the copper deficiency in these specimens.