Laser-Assisted Field Evaporation of (R = Gd, Sm) High-Temperature Superconducting Coated Conductors

Abstract

In the field of high-temperature superconductors, atom probe tomography is a relatively new instrument, with the ability to provide a new perspective on the 3D nanoscale microstructure. However, field evaporation of nonmetallic materials is fraught with unique challenges that matter little in the world of metallic evaporation. In this study, we review the laser absorption, correlated evaporation, molecular dissociation, and the crystallographic effects on the field evaporation of 800-m ${\rm RB}{\rm a}_ 2{\rm C}{\rm u}_ 3{\rm O}_{ 7-{\rm \delta }}$ (R = Gd, Sm) coated conductor tapes deposited by Reactive Co-Evaporation Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR). Ultraviolet 355 nm laser pulsing was found to have a substantial beneficial effect on minimizing the fracture probability compared with 532 nm illumination, especially when evaporating insulating oxide precipitates. This, in turn, allows for the 3D compositional analysis of defects such as flux pinning centers introduced by precipitation and doping. As a result, evidence for the precipitation of nanoscale ${\rm G}{\rm d}_ 2{\rm C}{\rm u}_ 2{\rm O}_ 5$ is discussed. The effect of crystallographic orientation is studied, where [001] aligned evaporation is found to develop compositional aberrations.

APAV: An Open-Source Python Package for Mass Spectrum Analysis in Atom Probe Tomography

“…In APAV DME information can be accessed through MultipleEventExtractor that interfaces with a Roi-assuming the DME information exists (see Table 1). An example of the interactive correlation histogram tool is shown in Figure 1 for a complex oxide superconductor; this particular correlation histogram exhibits all currently known physical phenomena in a correlation histogram (see Smith et al (2021) for details).…”

Microstructure, pinning properties, and aging of CSD-grown SmBa2Cu3O7−δ films with and without BaHfO3 nanoparticles

“…[49], and were here inferred from Y 2 Cu 2 O 5 and Ba-Y-F, respectively. Smith et al recently mentioned the possibility of the RE 2 Cu 2 O 5 phase for GdBCO coated conductors [50], although its stability is assumed to decrease with increasing RE ion radius and had not been reported for larger lanthanoids than Tb [51]. Noteworthy, Y 2 Cu 2 O 5 has been tried as artificial pinning centres recently in bulk YBCO samples, although with considerable T c reduction [52].…”