Superconducting fluctuation in Bi 2Sr 2Ca 2Cu 3O x

Measurements of the resistivity, of the DC Meissner effect, of the isothermal magnetisation, of the specific heat, of the thermal expansion and of the Hall effect are reported for a high quality polycrystalline sample of the 2223 phase of the BiSrCaCuO family of high temperature superconductors. They are discussed in terms of critical fluctuations within ± 10 K about T_c due to a very small coherence volume. Distinct features appear in the data at the Ginzburg-Landau transition temperature ( T_GL≈107 K) and at the Kosterlitz-Thouless like temperature (T ^∗_KT≈106 K) .