Effect of Energy-Dependent Proton Irradiation in Thin-Film YBa2Cu3O7−δ Superconductor

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2025

Publication Source

Materials

Volume Number

18

Issue Number

21

E-ISSN

19961944

Article Number

4845

Abstract

The superconducting properties of YBa2Cu3 (Formula presented.) thin films were investigated by conducting 1.7 MeV proton irradiations with a total fluence of (Formula presented.) (Formula presented.). The superconducting critical temperature ((Formula presented.)) was reduced from 89.4 K to 10.1 K. The experimental procedure was similar to a previous study (0.6 MeV proton irradiation). We compared the effectiveness of (Formula presented.) suppression by varying the proton energy from 0.6 to 1.7 MeV and found that in general both protons of 1.7 MeV and 0.6 MeV were effective in suppressing the (Formula presented.) of YBCO. In particular, both results were consistent with the theoretical expectation (generalized d-wave AG theory) when a zero-temperature London penetration depth ((Formula presented.)) = 215 nm is assumed for thin-film YBCO. For heavily irradiated cases (more than 80% (Formula presented.) suppression), however, 1.7 MeV protons were more effective in suppressing (Formula presented.) than 0.6 MeV protons. This can be understood by the fact that in the thin-film limit, higher-energy protons tend to produce less clustered point defects while lower-energy protons tend to create agglomeration of point defects.

Keywords

Abrikosov-Gor’kov theory, cuprates, d-wave, disorders, high-temperature superconductor, proton irradiation, resistivity, thin-film, YBCO

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