Tailoring the electrical and high-Tc superconducting properties of cuprate thin films by light-ion irradiation and nano-structuring

Description

High-temperature superconductors (HTS) are fascinating classes of materials that are studied intensively due to their unconventional superconductivity and that are used for many different technical applications. The electrical and superconducting properties of the cuprate HTS thin films can be tailored by creating point defects via low-energy light-ion irradiation (e.g., He+, 10-100 keV). Focused ion irradiation allows to produce nanometer-scale defect lattices that interact with the magnetic flux line lattice. This enables the manipulation of flux quanta introducing novel effects in the HTS films.

In this contribution we discuss the growth of epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7−δ (Y-123) and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ (Bi-2212) cuprate HTS thin films by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) technique [1, 2]. We summarize the modification of electrical resistance R(T) and critical temperature Tc0 of irradiated Y-123 films as function of the accumulated He+ ion fluence [3]. The electrical resistance R, measured in-situ during ion irradiation at different sample temperature is described using a phenomenological model [4]. Y-123 thin films that are nano-structured using a focused He+ ion beam display strong minima of magneto-resistance R(B,T) and maxima of critical current density Jc(B,T) in magnetic field B [4, 5]. At matching magnetic fields Bm the flux line lattice becomes commensurate to the irradiated defect lattice leading to efficient pinning of the flux vortices. The signatures of vortex matching are not compromised by sample storage at room temperature over more than six years [4]. These findings underscore the potential of ion irradiation techniques in tailoring the high-Tc superconducting properties of HTS thin films.

References:
[1] S. Keppert, B. Aichner, et al., Applied Surface Science 636 (2023) 157822.
[2] B. Aichner, S. Keppert, et al., Scientific Reports (2025) 15:11855.
[3] W. Lang, J.D. Pedarnig, Chapter 3 in “Nanoscience and Engineering in Superconductors”,
V. Moshchalkov, R. Wördenweber, W. Lang (Eds.), Springer (2010).
[4] S. Keppert, B. Aichner, et al., Internat. Journal of Molecular Sciences 25(14) (2024) 7877.
[5] B. Aichner, B. Müller, et al., ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 2 (2019) 5108−5115.

Acknowledgements:
Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Grant-DOI: 10.55776/I4865 and 10.55776/I6079. COST Actions SuperQuMap CA21144, Hi-SCALE CA19108, and Polytopo CA23134 (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

Period	4 Dec 2025
Event title	3d-ICOMAS
Event type	Conference
Location	Verona, ItalyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International