  Here we use global and local magnetometry and Hall probe imaging to
investigate the electromagnetic connectivity of the superconducting current
path in the oxygen-deficient fluorine-free Nd-based oxypnictides. High
resolution transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy
show strongly-layered crystallites, evidence for a ~ 5nm amorphous oxide around
individual particles, and second phase neodymium oxide which may be responsible
for the large paramagnetic background at high field and at high temperatures.
  From global magnetometry and electrical transport measurements it is clear
that there is a small supercurrent flowing on macroscopic sample dimensions
(mm), with a lower bound for the average (over this length scale) critical
current density of the order of 103 A/cm2. From magnetometry of powder samples
and local Hall probe imaging of a single large conglomerate particle ~120
microns it is clear that on smaller scales, there is better current
connectivity with a critical current density of the order of 5 x 104 A/cm2. We
find enhanced flux creep around the second peak anomaly in the magnetisation
curve and an irreversibility line significantly below Hc2(T) as determined by
ac calorimetry.
