We present results on ultra low noise YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ nano Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (nanoSQUIDs). To realize such devices, we implemented high quality YBCO nanowires, working as weak links between two electrodes. We observe critical current modulation as a function of an externally applied magnetic field in the full temperature range below the transition temperature $T_C$. The white flux noise below 1 $mu Phi_0/sqrt{mathrm{Hz}}$ at T = 8 K makes our nanoSQUIDs very attractive for the detection of small spin systems.
Focused ion beam (FIB) technology has been used to fabricate miniature Nb DC SQUIDs which incorporate resistively-shunted microbridge junctions and a central loop with a hole diameter ranging from 1058 nm to 50 nm. The smallest device, with a 50 nm hole diameter, has a white flux noise level of 2.6 microphy_{0}/Hz^{0.5} at 10^{4} Hz. The scaling of the flux noise properties and focusing effect of the SQUID with the hole size were examined. The observed low-frequency flux noise of different devices were compared with the contribution due to the spin fluctuation of defects during FIB processing and the thermally activated flux hopping in the SQUID washer.
An improved nanopatterning procedure has been developed to obtain YBCO nanowires with cross sections as small as 50x50 nm^2, protected by an Au capping layer. To probe the effective role of the Au protecting layer, we have measured the current-voltage characteristics and the resistive transition in temperature of the nanowires. Critical current densities up to 10^8 A/cm^2 have been achieved at T=4.2 K, approaching the theoretical depairing current limit. The resistance, measured as a function of temperature close to Tc, has been fitted with a thermal activated phase slip model, including the effect of the gold layer. The extracted values of the superconducting coherence length and of the London penetration depth give current densities consistent with the measured ones. These results cannot be achieved with same nanowires, without the Au capping layer.
The Abricosov vortex and bundles dynamics was experimentally investigated in Earths magnetic field range. Isothermal relaxation features in YBCO single crystal samples with strong pinning centers were studied for different sample-field orientation. The normalized relaxation rate S obtained allowed to estimate the effective pinning potential U in the bulk of the YBCO sample and its temperature dependence, as well as the critical current density Jc. A comparison between the data obtained and the results for similar measurements in significantly higher magnetic fields was performed. To compare different Jc measuring techniques magnetization loop M(H) measurements, were made. These measurements provide many important parameters of the sample under study (penetration field Hp, first critical field Hc1, etc.) that contain the geometrical configuration of the samples.
Dedicated read-out electronics was developed for low impedance resistive thermometers. Using this high performance temperature controller, the temperature dependence of the excess noise of a YBa2Cu307-d (YBCO) sample in the superconducting transition was monitored as a function of the current bias. The noise could reach 3.10-8 K Hz-1/2 at 1 Hz, 5 mA bias and 90 K.
As established by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) cleaved surfaces of the high temperature superconductor YBa$_2$Cu$_2$O$_{7-delta}$ develop charge density wave (CDW) modulations in the one-dimensional (1D) CuO chains. At the same time, no signatures of the CDW have been reported in the spectral function of the chain band previously studied by photoemission. We use soft X-ray angle resolved photoemission (SX-ARPES) to detect a chain-derived surface band that had not been detected in previous work. The $2k_textup{F}$ for the new surface band is found to be 0.55,AA$^{-1}$, which matches the wave vector of the CDW observed in direct space by STM. This reveals the relevance of the Fermi surface nesting for the formation of CDWs in the CuO chains in YBa$_2$Cu$_2$O$_{7-delta}$. In agreement with the short range nature of the CDW order the newly detected surface band exhibits a pseudogap, whose energy scale also corresponds to that observed by STM.