Control of the nanosized defect network in superconducting thin films by target grain size

Moe Moe Aye; Elmeri Rivasto; Mukarram Zaman Khan; Hannes Rijckaert; Esko Salojärvi; Christopher Haalisto; Ermei Mäkilä; Heikki Palonen; Hannu Huhtinen; Isabel Van Driessche; Petriina Paturi

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-85304-4

Control of the nanosized defect network in superconducting thin films by target grain size

Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 16;11(1):6010. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85304-4.

Authors

Moe Moe Aye^{1

2}, Elmeri Rivasto^{3

4}, Mukarram Zaman Khan^{3

4}, Hannes Rijckaert⁵, Esko Salojärvi⁶, Christopher Haalisto⁷, Ermei Mäkilä⁸, Heikki Palonen³, Hannu Huhtinen³, Isabel Van Driessche⁵, Petriina Paturi³

Affiliations

¹ Wihuri Physical Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland. moe.m.aye@utu.fi.
² University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS), University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland. moe.m.aye@utu.fi.
³ Wihuri Physical Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.
⁴ University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS), University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.
⁵ SCRiPTS, Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S3, 9000, Ghent, Belgium.
⁶ Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.
⁷ Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.
⁸ Laboratory of Industrial Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland.

Abstract

A nanograined YBCO target, where a great number of grain boundaries, pores etc. exist, is shown to hold an alternative approach to future pulsed laser deposition based high-temperature superconductor thin film and coated conductor technologies. Although the nanograined material is introduced earlier, in this work, we comprehensively demonstrate the modified ablation process, together with unconventional nucleation and growth mechanisms that produces dramatically enhanced flux pinning properties. The results can be generalized to other complex magnetic oxides, where an increased number of defects are needed for modifying their magnetic and electrical properties, thus improving their usability in the future technological challenges.