Vortex matching at 6 T in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ thin films by imprinting a 20 nm-periodic pinning array with a focused helium ion beam

Abstract

Controlled engineering of vortex pinning sites in copper-oxide superconductors is a critical issue in manufacturing devices based on magnetic flux quanta. To address this, we employed a focused He-ion beam (He-FIB) to irradiate thin YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ films and create ultradense hexagonal arrays of defects with lattice spacings as small as 20 nm. Critical current and magnetoresistance measurements demonstrate efficient pinning by an unprecedentedly high matching field of 6 T visible in a huge temperature range from the critical temperature $T_c$ down to 2 K. These results show that He-FIB irradiation provides excellent opportunities for the development and application of superconducting fluxonic devices based on Abrikosov vortices. In particular, our findings suggest that such devices can operate at temperatures far below $T_c$, where superconductivity is robust.

12 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (11)

• Superconducting diode effect via conformal-mapped nanoholes
• Josephson junctions and SQUIDs created by focused helium ion beam irradiation of YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_7$
• A strange metal in a bosonic system
• Fluxonic Cellular Automata
• NanoSQUID magnetometry of individual cobalt nanoparticles grown by focused electron beam induced deposition
• Hysteretic vortex matching effects in high-$T_c$ superconductors with nanoscale periodic pinning landscapes fabricated by He ion beam projection technique
• Chip-Integrated Vortex Manipulation
• Word and bit line operation of a 1x1 μm2 superconducting vortex-based memory
• Nano-patterning of cuprate superconductors by masked He${}^{+}$ ion irradiation: 3-dimensional profiles of the local critical temperature
• Ordered Bose Glass of Vortices in Superconducting YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ Thin Films with a Periodic Pin Lattice Created by Focused Helium Ion Irradiation
• Angle-dependent Magnetoresistance of an Ordered Bose Glass of Vortices in YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ Thin Films with a Periodic Pinning~Lattice

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Temporal Evolution of Defects and Related Electric Properties in He-Irradiated YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ Thin Films
• Enhanced superconducting properties of Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+x}$ films with sub-50-nm thickness
• Vortex rivers and multiple voltage transitions in superconducting MgB${}_2$ thin films
• Nanoscale Spatial Tuning of Superconductivity in Cuprate Thin Films via Direct Laser Writing