In-Field Critical Current of Type-II Superconductors Caused by Strain from Nano-scale Columnar Inclusions

Abstract

The results of a linear elasticity analysis yields that nano-rod inclusions aligned along the c axis of a thin film of YBa2Cu3O{7-delta}, such as BaZrO3 and BaSnO3, squeeze that matrix by pure shear. The sensitivity of the superconducting critical temperature in that material to the latter implies that the phase boundary separating the nano-rod inclusion from the superconductor acts as a collective pinning center for the vortex lattice that appears in external magnetic field. A dominant contribution to the in-field critical current can result. The elasticity analysis also finds that the growth of nano-rod inclusions can be weakly metastable when the inclusion is softer than the matrix.

arXiv comment9 pages, 2 figures, published in Physical Review B, added estimate for energy cost of metastability

References in corpus (3)

• Strongly Enhanced Current Densities in Superconducting Coated Conductors of YBa2Cu3O7-x + BaZrO3
• Collective pinning of imperfect vortex lattices by material line defects in extreme type-II superconductors
• Critical Current of Type-II Superconductors in a Broken Bose Glass State

Cited by in corpus (3)

• On the large role of weak uncorrelated pinning introduced by BZO nanorods at low temperatures in REBCO thin films
• Micromechanical Model for Self-Organized Impurity Nanorod Arrays in Epitaxial YBCO Films
• Comparatively High In-Field Critical Current in Type-II Superconductors from Heterogeneous Columnar Pins: A Molecular Dynamics Study