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Influence of Fe Buffer Layer on Co-Doped BaFe2As2Superconducting Thin Films
A systematic characterization of Co-doped BaFe2As2 (Ba-122) thin films has been carried out. Two samples were available, one grown on CaF2 substrate and the other on MgO with an Fe buffer layer. The goal was to investigate films’ magnetic and superconducting properties, their reciprocal interplay, and the role played by the Fe buffer layer in modifying them. Morphological characterization and Energy Dispersive X-ray analyses on the Fe-buffered sample demonstrate the presence of diffused Fe close to the Co-doped Ba-122 outer surface as well as irregular holes in the overlying superconducting film. These results account for hysteresis loops obtained with magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements and observed at both room and low temperatures. The magnetic pattern was visualized by magneto-optical imaging with an indicator film. Moreover, we investigated the onset of superconductivity through a measure of the superconducting energy gap. The latter is strictly related to the decay time of the excitation produced by an ultrashort laser pulse and has been determined in a pump-probe transient reflectivity experiment. A comparison of results relative to Co-doped Ba-122 thin films with and without Fe buffer layer is finally reported.
Bicrystalline grain boundary junctions of Co-doped and P-doped Ba-122 thin films
We prepared GB junctions of Ba(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2 thin films on bicrystalline [00 l]-tilt SrTiO3 substrates. The junctions show clear Josephson effects. Electrical characterization shows asymmetric I-V characteristics which can be described within the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model. A large excess current is observed. Their formal ICRN product is 20.2 μV at 4.2 K, which is decreased to 6.5 μV when taking Iex into account. Fabrication methods to increase this value are discussed. Additionally, measurements on GB junctions of BaFe2(As0.66P0.34)2 thin films on LSAT bicrystalline substrates are shown. Their symmetric RSJ/flux flow-behavior exhibits a formal ICRN product of 45 μV, whereas the excess corrected value is ll μV.
BaFe2As2/Fe bilayers with [001]-tilt grain boundary on MgO and SrTiO3 bicrystal substrates
Co-doped BaFe2As2 (Ba-122) can be realized on both MgO and SrTiO3 bicrystal substrates with [001]-tilt grain boundary by employing Fe buffer layers. However, an additional spinel (i.e. MgAl 2O4) buffer between Fe and SrTiO3 is necessary since an epitaxial, smooth surface of Fe layer can not be grown on bare SrTiO3. Both types of bicrystal films show good crystalline quality.
Pulsed laser deposition of thick BaHfO3-doped YBa 2Cu307-δ films on highly alloyed textured Ni-W tapes
YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) films with a thickness of up to 3 μm containing nano-sized BaHfO3 (BHO) have been grown on Y2O3/Y-stabilized ZrO2/CeO 2 buffered Ni-9at% W tapes by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Structural characterization by means of X-ray diffraction confirmed that the YBCO layer grew epitaxial. A superconducting transition temperature T c of about 89 K with a transition width of 1 K was determined, decreasing with increasing BHO content. Critical current density in self-field and at 0.3 T increased with increasing dopant level.
Temperature-dependent electric noise level in different iron-based superconductors
The magnetic flux penetration into the melt-textured Y-Ba-Cu-O high temperature superconducting bulk magnets were precisely evaluated during and after the pulsed field magnetization processes operated at 30 K. The bulk magnets were carefully fabricated by the cold seeding method with use of a single and a pair of seed crystals composed of the Nd-Ba-Cu-O thin films. These seed crystals were put on the top surfaces of the precursors to let the large grains grow during the heat treatments. We observed the flux penetrations which occurred in the lower applied-field regions at around 3.1 T for the samples bearing the twin seeds than those of the single-seeded crystals at around 3.8 T. This means that the magnetic fluxes are capable of invading into the twin-seeded samples more easily than the single-seeds. It suggests that the anisotropic grain growths of parallel and normal to the rows of seed crystals affects the variations of Jc values with different distributions of the pinning centers, results in the preferential paths for the invading magnetic fluxes.
Universal scaling behavior of the upper critical field in strained FeSe0.7Te0.3 thin films
Revealing the universal behaviors of iron-based superconductors (FBS) is important to elucidate the microscopic theory of superconductivity. In this work, we investigate the effect of in-plane strain on the slope of the upper critical field H c2 at the superconducting transition temperature T c (i.e. -dH c2/dT) for FeSe0.7Te0.3 thin films. The in-plane strain tunes T c in a broad range, while the composition and disorder are almost unchanged. We show that -dH c2/dT scales linearly with T c, indicating that FeSe0.7Te0.3 follows the same universal behavior as observed for pnictide FBS. The observed behavior is consistent with a multiband superconductivity paired by interband interaction such as sign change s ± superconductivity.
Investigation of the strain-sensitive superconducting transition of BaFe1.8Co0.2As2 thin films utilizing piezoelectric substrates
The preparation of biaxially textured BaFe1.8Co0.2As2 thin films has been optimized on MgO single crystals and transfered to piezoelectric (001) Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.72Ti0.28O3 substrates. By utilizing the inverse piezoelectric effect the lattice parameter of these substrates can be controlled applying an electric field, leading to a induction of biaxial strain into the superconducting layer. High electric fields were used to achieve a total strain of up to 0.05% at low temperatures. A sharpening of the resistive transition and a shift of about 0.6 K to higher temperatures was found at a compressive strain of 0.035%.
Josephson and tunneling junctions with thin films of iron based superconductors
We produced planar hybrid Superconductor - Normal metal - Superconductor (SNS') junctions and interfaceengineered edge junctions (SN'S' or SIS' with normal metal (N') or insulating (I) barrier) with various areas using Co-doped Ba-122 as base electrode. Varying the thickness of the Normal metal (gold) barrier of the planar junctions, we can either observe Josephson behavior at thinner gold thicknesses or transport dominated by Andreev reflection. The edge junctions seem to form a SN'S'-contact.
Reversible shift in the superconducting transition for La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 and BaFe1.8Co0.2As2 using piezoelectric substrates
The use of piezoelectric substrates enables dynamic observation of the strain-dependent properties of functional materials. Based on studies with La1.85Sr0.15CuO4 (LSCO), we extended this approach to the iron arsenic superconductors represented by BaFe2− xCoxAs2 to investigate strain-driven changes in detail. We demonstrate that epitaxial thin films can be prepared on (001) Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)0.72Ti0.28O3 substrates using pulsed laser deposition. The structural and electric properties of grown films were characterized in detail. A reversible shift of the superconducting transition of 0.4 K for LSCO and 0.2 K for BaFe1.8Co0.2As2 was observed on applying biaxial strains of 0.022 and 0.017%, respectively.