Flux creep associated with bulk pinning and edge barriers in BSCCO-2212 single crystals

We have examined the flux creep behaviour in high-quality BSCCO-2212 single crystals by dynamic relaxation of the global magnetization using a vibrating-sample magnetometer. The irreversible magnetization is attributed to bulk pinning at low temperatures and to edge barriers at high temperatures. The increase of current at the anomalous 'arrowhead' feature is related to the penetration of a Bean-type profile through the sample at a field H*. We show that at H* flux creep is enhanced. The fast-creep regime survives over a narrow field range up to a field H-b, associated with the irreversibility line of the bulk pinning. Apart from the temperatures and fields where the arrowhead is observed, the creep rate has a similar normalized field dependence at all temperatures.