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Register a new userFractional Josephson vortices at YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$ grain boundaries
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We report numerical simulations of magnetic flux patterns in asymmetric 45$^{circ}$ [001]-tilt grain boundaries in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$ superconducting films. The grain boundaries are treated as Josephson junctions with the critical current density $j_c(x)$ alternating along the junctions. We demonstrate the existence of Josephson vortices with fractional flux quanta for both periodic and random $j_c(x)$. A method is proposed to extract fractional vortices from experimental flux patterns.
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Grain boundaries in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$ superconducting films are considered as Josephson junctions with a critical current density $j_c(x)$ alternating along the junction. A self-generated magnetic flux is treated both analytically and numerically for an almost periodic distribution of $j_c(x)$. We obtained a magnetic flux-pattern similar to the one which was recently observed experimentally.
The magneto-conductance in YBCO grain boundary Josephson junctions, displays fluctuations at low temperatures of mesoscopic origin. The morphology of the junction suggests that transport occurs in narrow channels across the grain boundary line, with a large Thouless energy. Nevertheless the measured fluctuation amplitude decreases quite slowly when increasing the voltage up to values about twenty times the Thouless energy, of the order of the nominal superconducting gap. Our findings show the coexistence of supercurrent and quasiparticle current in the junction conduction even at high nonequilibrium conditions. Model calculations confirm the reduced role of quasiparticle relaxation at temperatures up to 3 Kelvin.
We designed, fabricated and tested short one dimensional arrays of masked ion-irradiated YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_7$ Josephson junctions (JJ) embedded into log-periodic spiral antennas. Our arrays consist of 4 or 8 junctions separated either by 960~nm or 80~nm long areas of undamaged YBCO. Samples with distanced junctions and with closely spaced junctions showed qualitatively different behaviors. Well separated arrays demonstrated giant Shapiro steps in the hundreds-GHz band at 66K and were tested as Josephson mixers with improved impedance matching. All closely spaced arrays behaved as one junction with a lower superconducting transition temperature, hence forming a single weak link on distances up to 880~nm. Such design opens a new way to increase the I$_{c}$R$_{N}$ product of ion-irradiated junctions and we speculate that the phenomena and physics behind it might be similar to the so-called giant Josephson coupling observed in cuprates.
The critical current density flowing across low angle grain boundaries in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ thin films has been studied magnetometrically. Films (200 nm thickness) were deposited on SrTiO$_3$ bicrystal substrates containing a single [001] tilt boundary, with angles of 2, 3, 5, and 7 degrees, and the films were patterned into rings. Their magnetic moments were measured in applied magnetic fields up to 30 kOe at temperatures of 5 - 95 K; current densities of rings with or without grain boundaries were obtained from a modified critical state model. For rings containing 5 and 7 degree boundaries, the magnetic response depends strongly on the field history, which arises in large part from self-field effects acting on the grain boundary.
Most measurements of critical current densities in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ thin films to date have been performed on films where the textit{c}-axis is grown normal to the film surface. With such films, the analysis of the dependence of $j_c$ on the magnetic field angle is complex. The effects of extrinsic contributions to the angular field dependence of $j_c$, such as the measurement geometry and disposition of pinning centres, are convoluted with those intrinsically due to the anisotropy of the material. As a consequence of this, it is difficult to distinguish between proposed FLL structure models on the basis of angular critical current density measurements on textit{c}-axis films. Films grown on mis-cut (vicinal) substrates have a reduced measurement symmetry and thus provide a greater insight into the critical current anisotropy. In this paper previous descriptions of the magnetic field angle dependence of $j_c$ in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ are reviewed. Measurements on YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$ thin films grown on a range of vicinal substrates are presented and the results interpreted in terms of the structure and dimensionality of the FLL in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$. There is strong evidence for a transition in the structure of the flux line lattice depending on magnetic field magnitude, orientation and temperature. As a consequence, a simple scaling law can not, by itself, describe the observed critical current anisotropy in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-delta}$. The experimentally obtained $j_c(theta)$ behaviour of YBCO is successfully described in terms of a kinked vortex structure for fields applied near parallel to the textit{a-b} planes.
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