Attenuation of superconductivity in manganite/cuprate heterostructures by epitaxially-induced CuO intergrowths

Abstract

We examine the effect of CuO intergrowths on the superconductivity in epitaxial La_{2/3}Ca_{1/3}MnO_3/YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-δ} (LCMO/YBCO) thin-film heterostructures. Scanning transmission electron microscopy on bilayer LCMO/YBCO thin films revealed double CuO-chain intergrowths which form regions with the 247 lattice structure in the YBCO layer. These nanoscale 247 regions do not appear in x-ray diffraction, but can physically account for the reduced critical temperature Tc of bilayer thin films relative to unilayer films with the same YBCO thickness, at least down to ~25 nm. We attribute the CuO intergrowths to the bilayer heteroepitaxial mismatch and the Tc reduction to the generally lower Tc seen in bulk 247 samples. These epitaxially-induced CuO intergrowths provide a microstructural mechanism for the attenuation of superconductivity in LCMO/YBCO heterostructures.

4 pages, 5 figures included in text, to appear in Applied Physics Letters

References in corpus (3)

• Pulsed laser deposition growth of heteroepitaxial YBa2Cu3O7/La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 superlattices on NdGaO3 and Sr0.7La0.3Al0.65Ta0.35O3 substrates
• Scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of c-axis proximity effect in epitaxial bilayer manganite/cuprate thin films
• Transport and spectroscopic properties of superconductor - ferromagnet - superconductor junctions of $L{a}_{1.9}S{r}_{0.1}Cu{O}_4$ - $L{a}_{0.67}C{a}_{0.33}Mn{O}_3$ - $L{a}_{1.9}S{r}_{0.1}Cu{O}_4$

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Observation of a Three-Dimensional Quasi-Long-Range Electronic Supermodulation in YBa2Cu3O7-x/La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 Heterostructures
• Superconductor to Mott insulator transition in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_7$/LaCaMnO${}_3$ heterostructures
• a-axis YBa2Cu3O7-x/PrBa2Cu3O7-x/YBa2Cu3O7-x trilayers with subnanometer rms roughness
• Synthesis of high-oxidation Y-Ba-Cu-O phases in superoxygenated thin films
• Atomic-scale mapping of interfacial phonon modes in epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7-δ / (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3 thin films: The role of surface phonons