  We performed a systematic study of the ac magnetic-susceptibility on a Nb3Sn
single crystal which displays a strong peak effect near the upper critical
field Hc2. In external magnetic fields above 3 T, the peak effect manifests
itself in a single, distinct peak in the real part of the ac susceptibility as
a function of temperature T, the size of which continuously increases with
increasing magnetic field H. In the imaginary part of the ac susceptibility, on
the other hand, a single peak initially grows with increasing H up to a
well-defined value, and then splits into two sharp peaks which separate when H
is further increased. We explain this surprising behavior by a flux-creep model
and taking into account the enhancement of the critical-current density in the
peak-effect region near Tc in which Bean's critical-state model seems to apply.
Outside this region, the crystal is clearly in a flux-creep regime with finite
creep exponent n.
