Evaluation of temperature dependent vortex pinning properties in strongly pinned YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films with Y2BaCuO5 nanoinclusions

The pinning of quantized magnetic vortices in superconducting YBa2Cu3O7- δ(YBCO or Y123) thin films with Y2BaCuO5 (Y211) nanoinclusions have been investigated over wide temperature range (4.2–77 K). The concentration of Y211 nanoinclusions has been systematically varied inside YBCO thin films prepared by laser ablation technique using surface modified target approach. Large pinning force density values (Fp ∼ 0.5 TNm−3 at 4.2 K, 9 T) have been observed for the YBCO film with moderate concentration of Y211 nanoinclusions (3.6 area % on ablation target). In addition, uniform enhancement in critical current density (Jc) was observed in the angular dependent Jc measurement of YBCO+Y211 nanocomposite films. Y211 nanoinclusions have been found to be very efficient in pinning the quantized vortices thereby enhancing the in-field Jc values over a wide range of temperature. Increasing the concentration of Y211 secondary phase into Y123 film matrix results into agglomeration of Y211 phase and observed as increased Y211 nanoparticle size. These larger secondary phase nanoparticles are not as efficient pinning centers at lower temperatures as they are at higher temperatures due to substantial reduction of the coherence length at lower temperatures. Investigation of the temperature dependence of Jc for YBCO+Y211 nanocomposite films has been conducted and possible vortex pinning mechanism in these nanocomposite films has been discussed.