Untangling surface oxygen exchange effects in YBa2Cu3O6+x thin films by electrical conductivity relaxation.

The kinetics of oxygen incorporation (in-diffusion process) and excorporation (out-diffusion process), in YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO) epitaxial thin films prepared using the chemical solution deposition (CSD) methodology by the trifluoroacetate route, was investigated by electrical conductivity relaxation measurements. We show that the oxygenation kinetics of YBCO films is limited by the surface exchange process of oxygen molecules prior to bulk diffusion into the films. The analysis of the temperature and oxygen partial pressure influence on the oxygenation kinetics has drawn a consistent picture of the oxygen surface exchange process enabling us to define the most likely rate determining step. We have also established a strategy to accelerate the oxygenation kinetics at low temperatures based on the catalytic influence of Ag coatings thus allowing us to decrease the oxygenation temperature in the YBCO thin films.

Ferromagnetic 1D oxide nanostructures grown from chemical solutions in confined geometries.

This review summarizes the capabilities and recent developments of nanoporous polymeric template systems directly supported on different substrates for the confined growth of epitaxial ferromagnetic complex oxide 1D nanostructures. In particular, we describe the versatility and potentiality of chemical solutions combined with track-etched polymers to synthesize (i) vertical polycrystalline La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 nanorods on top of single crystal perovskites, (ii) single crystalline manganese based octahedral molecular sieve (OMS) nanowires on silicon substrates, and (iii) the epitaxial directional single crystal OMS nanowires on top of fluorite-type substrates. The influence of the distinct growth parameters on the nanostructural evolution of the resulting nanostructures and their magnetic properties is further discussed in detail.

Chemical solution route to self-assembled epitaxial oxide nanostructures.

Self-assembly of oxides as a bottom-up approach to functional nanostructures goes beyond the conventional nanostructure formation based on lithographic techniques. Particularly, chemical solution deposition (CSD) is an ex situ growth approach very promising for high throughput nanofabrication at low cost. Whereas strain engineering as a strategy to define nanostructures with tight control of size, shape and orientation has been widely used in metals and semiconductors, it has been rarely explored in the emergent field of functional complex oxides. Here we will show that thermodynamic modeling can be very useful to understand the principles controlling the growth of oxide nanostructures by CSD, and some attractive kinetic features will also be presented. The methodology of strain engineering is applied in a high degree of detail to form different sorts of nanostructures (nanodots, nanowires) of the oxide CeO2 with fluorite structure which then is used as a model system to identify the principles controlling self-assembly and self-organization in CSD grown oxides. We also present, more briefly, the application of these ideas to other oxides such as manganites or BaZrO3. We will show that the nucleation and growth steps are essentially understood and manipulated while the kinetic phenomena underlying the evolution of the self-organized networks are still less widely explored, even if very appealing effects have been already observed. Overall, our investigation based on a CSD approach has opened a new strategy towards a general use of self-assembly and self-organization which can now be widely spread to many functional oxide materials.

Nanoscale strain-induced pair suppression as a vortex-pinning mechanism in high-temperature superconductors.

Boosting large-scale superconductor applications require nanostructured conductors with artificial pinning centres immobilizing quantized vortices at high temperature and magnetic fields. Here we demonstrate a highly effective mechanism of artificial pinning centres in solution-derived high-temperature superconductor nanocomposites through generation of nanostrained regions where Cooper pair formation is suppressed. The nanostrained regions identified from transmission electron microscopy devise a very high concentration of partial dislocations associated with intergrowths generated between the randomly oriented nanodots and the epitaxial YBa(2)Cu(3)O(7) matrix. Consequently, an outstanding vortex-pinning enhancement correlated to the nanostrain is demonstrated for four types of randomly oriented nanodot, and a unique evolution towards an isotropic vortex-pinning behaviour, even in the effective anisotropy, is achieved as the nanostrain turns isotropic. We suggest a new vortex-pinning mechanism based on the bond-contraction pairing model, where pair formation is quenched under tensile strain, forming new and effective core-pinning regions.

Chemical solution approaches to YBa2Cu3O7_delta-Au nanocomposite superconducting thin films.

We explore the feasibility of preparing YBa2CU3O7-Au (YBCO-Au) nanocomposite thin films by chemical solution deposition (CSD). Two approaches were used: (i) A standard in-situ methodology where Au metallorganic salts are added into the precursor solution of YBCO trifluoroacetate (TFA) salts and (ii) a novel approach where stable colloidal solutions of preformed gold nanoparticles (5-15 nm) were homogeneously mixed with TFA-YBCO solutions. A detailed analysis of the microstructure of the films showed that in both cases, there is a strong tendency of gold nanoparticles to migrate to the film surface. However the kinetics of this migration evidences important differences and in the case of preformed nanoparticles their size remains unchanged (a few nanometers) whereas for the in-situ nanocomposites gold ripening leads to large particles (hundreds of nanometers). The grown YBCO-Au films showed good superconducting characteristics (J(c) 2 MA/cm2 at 77 K) but the absence of Au inclusions inside the YBCO matrix explains the fact that no enhancement of vortex pinning was observed.

Ultra-high critical current densities of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films in the overdoped state.

The functional properties of cuprates are strongly determined by the doping state and carrier density. We present an oxygen doping study of YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) thin films from underdoped to overdoped state, correlating the measured charge carrier density, [Formula: see text], the hole doping, p, and the critical current density, [Formula: see text]. Our results show experimental demonstration of strong increase of [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text], up to Quantum Critical Point (QCP), due to an increase of the superconducting condensation energy. The ultra-high [Formula: see text] achieved, 90 MA cm-2 at 5 K corresponds to about a fifth of the depairing current, i.e. a value among the highest ever reported in YBCO films. The overdoped regime is confirmed by a sudden increase of [Formula: see text], associated to the reconstruction of the Fermi-surface at the QCP. Overdoping YBCO opens a promising route to extend the current carrying capabilities of rare-earth barium copper oxide (REBCO) coated conductors for applications.

Ultrafast transient liquid assisted growth of high current density superconducting films.

The achievement of high growth rates in YBa2Cu3O7 epitaxial high-temperature superconducting films has become strategic to enable high-throughput manufacturing of long length coated conductors for energy and large magnet applications. We report on a transient liquid assisted growth process capable of achieving ultrafast growth rates (100 nm s-1) and high critical current densities (5 MA cm-2 at 77 K). This is based on the kinetic preference of Ba-Cu-O to form transient liquids prior to crystalline thermodynamic equilibrium phases, and as such is a non-equilibrium approach. The transient liquid-assisted growth process is combined with chemical solution deposition, proposing a scalable method for superconducting tapes manufacturing. Additionally, using colloidal solutions, the growth process is extended towards fabrication of nanocomposite films for enhanced superconducting properties at high magnetic fields. Fast acquisition in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and high resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) become crucial measurements in disentangling key aspects of the growth process.

Thermoelectric stack sample cooling modification of a commercial atomic force microscopy.

Enabling temperature dependent experiments in Atomic Force Microscopy is of great interest to study materials and surface properties at the nanoscale. By studying Curie temperature of multiferroic materials, temperature dependent phase transitions on crystalline structures or resistive switching phenomena are only a few examples of applications. We present an equipment capable of cooling samples using a thermoelectric cooling stage down to -61.4 °C in a 15 × 15 mm2 sample plate. The equipment uses a four-unit thermoelectric stack to achieve maximum temperature range, with low electrical and mechanical noise. The equipment is installed into a Keysight 5500LS Atomic Force Microscopy maintaining its compatibility with all Electrical and Mechanical modes of operation. We study the contribution of the liquid cooling pump vibration into the cantilever static deflection noise and the temperature dependence of the cantilever deflection. A La0.7Sr0.3MnO3-y thin film sample is used to demonstrate the performance of the equipment and its usability by analyzing the resistive switching phenomena associated with this oxide perovskite.

Angular flux creep contributions in YBa2Cu3O7-δ nanocomposites from electrical transport measurements.

The shape of the electric-field-current-density (E-J) curve is determined by flux pinning and also by dynamics of vortices. Here, we propose a novel methodology to study the normalized flux creep rate S in YBa2Cu3O7-δ measured from E-J curves obtained by electrical transport measurements that provides a fast and versatile way to foresee the flux magnetic relaxation in films and disentangle angular flux creep contributions by the scaling of the isotropic contribution of S. After a detailed comparison of various pristine and nanocomposite films with differentiated nanostructures, we focus on the roles that intrinsic pinning and stacking faults (YBa2Cu4O8-intergrowths) play when the magnetic field is applied parallel to the superconducting CuO2 planes. This study reveals that the emerging intergrowths provide advanced pinning properties that additionally reduce the thermal activated flux magnetic relaxation. For this purpose, creep analysis becomes a very appropriate tool to elucidate the dominance of the different pinning sites at different regions of the magnetic-field-temperature diagram.

Author Correction: Angular flux creep contributions in YBa2Cu3O7-δ nanocomposites from electrical transport measurements.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Piezo-generated charge mapping revealed through direct piezoelectric force microscopy.

While piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials play a key role in many everyday applications, there are still a number of open questions related to their physics. To enhance our understanding of piezoelectrics and ferroelectrics, nanoscale characterization is essential. Here, we develop an atomic force microscopy based mode that obtains a direct quantitative analysis of the piezoelectric coefficient d33. We report nanoscale images of piezogenerated charge in a thick single crystal of periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN), a bismuth ferrite (BiFO3) thin film, and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) by applying a force and recording the current produced by these materials. The quantification of d33 coefficients for PPLN (14 ± 3 pC per N) and BFO (43 ± 6 pC per N) is in agreement with the values reported in the literature. Even stronger evidence of the reliability of the method is provided by an equally accurate measurement of the significantly larger d33 of PZT.

Competition between Superconductor - Ferromagnetic stray magnetic fields in YBa2Cu3O7-x films pierced with Co nano-rods.

Superconductivity and ferromagnetism are two antagonistic phenomena that combined can lead to a rich phenomenology of interactions, resulting in novel physical properties and unique functionalities. Here we propose an original hybrid system formed by a high-temperature superconducting film, patterned with antidots, and with ferromagnetic nano-rods grown inside them. This particular structure exhibits the synergic influence of superconductor (SC) - ferromagnetic (FM) stray fields, in both the superconducting behaviour of the film and the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic structure of nano-rods. We show that FM stray fields directly influence the critical current density of the superconducting film. Additional functionalities appear due to the interaction of SC stray fields, associated to supercurrent loops, with the non-trivial 3D remanent magnetic structure of FM nano-rods. This work unravels the importance of addressing quantitatively the effect of stray magnetic fields from both, the superconductor and the ferromagnet in hybrid magnetic nano-devices based on high temperature superconductors.

Anisotropic vortex plasticity in the liquid state of YBa2Cu3O7: evidence for quenched c-axis vortex correlation length

A generalized methodology, based on anisotropic angular dependent magnetoresistance measurements, is presented to deconvolute the contributions to the vortex activation energy (i.e., plastic and pinning energies) in the vortex liquid state of high temperature superconductors. Experimental evidence is given for the appearance of a partially entangled liquid vortex state in YBa 2Cu 3O (7) when random quenched and correlated disorders compete, as in twinned melt textured YBa 2Cu 3O (7) quasisingle crystals with Y 2BaCuO (5) precipitates. The hallmark of this new phase is a quench of the c-axis vortex correla-tion length.