Normal metal-superconductor decoupling as a source of thermal fluctuation noise in transition-edge sensors J. Appl. Phys. 112, 034515 (2012) Transport critical-current density of superconducting films with hysteretic ferromagnetic dots AIP Advances 2, 022166 (2012) Pressure effects on strained FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films J. Appl. Phys. 111, 112610 (2012) Magnetoresistance and transistor-like behavior of a double quantum-dot via crossed Andreev reflections J. Appl. Phys. 111, 113905 (2012) What are the internal field and the vortex density along the edges of a coated conductor or a superconducting bridge carrying current?

Lanthanum-cerium oxide (LCO) films were deposited on Ni-5%W substrates by chemical solution deposition (CSD) from water-based precursors. LCO films containing different ratios of lanthanum and cerium ions (from CeO 2 to La 2 Ce 2 O 7 ) were prepared. The composition of the layers was optimized towards the formation of LCO buffer layers, lattice-matched with the superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O y layer, useful for the development of coated conductors. Single, crack-free LCO layers with a thickness of up to 140 nm could be obtained in a single deposition step. The crystallinity and microstructure of these lattice-matched LCO layers were studied by X-ray diffraction techniques, RHEED and SEM. We find that only layers with thickness below 100 nm show a crystalline top surface although both thick and thin layers show good biaxial texture in XRD. On the most promising layers, AFM and (S)TEM were performed to further evaluate their morphology. The overall surface roughness varies between 3.9 and 7.5 nm, while the layers appear much more dense than the frequently used La 2 Zr 2 O 7 (LZO) systems, showing much smaller nanovoids (1-2 nm) than the latter system. Their effective buffer layer action was studied using XPS. The thin LCO layers supported the growth of superconducting YBCO deposited using PLD methods.

Abstract. Epitaxial buffer layers of CeO 2 and Yttria-stabilized ZrO 2 (YSZ) have been deposited on biaxially textured nickel substrates using reel to reel thermal reactive evaporation, and rf sputtering. The degree of texture of the deposited buffer layers were analysed by X-ray pole figure, Out-of-plane (w-scan) and in-plane (Φ-scan) texture. The Microstructures of oxide buffer layer was determined by electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) partially and SEM in selected marked area, providing information on the propagation of the grain boundary network from the substrate to the buffer layers in the same expected area. The oxide layer sequence, YBCO/CeO 2 /YSZ/CeO 2 /NiW was the same in each sample, but different deposition techniques were used to deposit the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 films: MOCVD, PLD, and DC-sputtering. Transport measurements on the coated conductor samples were measured 1.2 MA/cm 2 , and 1.0 MA/sm 2 , 1.8 MA/cm 2 at 77 K (0 T) respectively.