Specific heat of single crystalline YBa2Cu3O7 in 20 Tesla

Abstract The specific heat of a single crystal of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 is measured from 40 to 150 K in magnetic fields up to 20 Tesla applied either parallel or normal to the c axis. Adiabatic calorimetry with a scatter well below 0.1% is used. The scaling of the superconducting transitions determines the bulk anisotropy ratio, 5.5±0.5. A Maki-like term is observed at intermediate temperatures. The unusual behaviour of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 in a field, featuring a considerable smearing of the transition and an apparently field-independent onset, may be qualitatively understood as a phenomenological consequence of the small and anisotropic value of the coherence length alone, using the relevant models of field-induced critical 1-D fluctuations on one hand, and London-like regime for the mean-field part of the transition on the other hand.