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Artificially engineered superlattices of pnictide superconductors

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 392–396 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Significant progress has been achieved in fabricating high-quality bulk and thin-film iron-based superconductors. In particular, artificial layered pnictide superlattices1,2 offer the possibility of tailoring the superconducting properties and understanding the mechanism of the superconductivity itself. For high-field applications, large critical current densities (Jc) and irreversibility fields (Hirr) are indispensable along all crystal directions. On the other hand, the development of superconducting devices such as tunnel junctions requires multilayered heterostructures. Here we show that artificially engineered undoped Ba-122/Co-doped Ba-122 compositionally modulated superlattices produce a b-aligned nanoparticle arrays. These layer and self-assemble along c-axis-aligned defects3,4,5, and combine to produce very large Jc and Hirr enhancements over a wide angular range. We also demonstrate a structurally modulated SrTiO3(STO)/Co-doped Ba-122 superlattice with sharp interfaces. Success in superlattice fabrication involving pnictides will aid the progress of heterostructured systems exhibiting new interfacial phenomena and device applications.

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Figure 1: Schematic representations of various structures of superconductor epitaxial thin films.
Figure 2: XRD patterns obtained on O–Ba-122-inserted and STO-inserted Co-doped BaFe2As2 superlattices.
Figure 3: Microstructure of Co-doped BaFe2As2 superlattice thin films investigated by TEM.
Figure 4: Resistivity as a function of temperature.
Figure 5: Critical current density as a function of magnetic field.

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Acknowledgements

Work at the University of Wisconsin was financially supported by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award number DE-FG02-06ER46327. The work at the NHMFL was supported under NSF Cooperative Agreement DMR-1157490 and DMR-1006584, and by the State of Florida. TEM work was carried out at the University of Michigan and was supported by the Department of Energy under grant DE-FG02-07ER46416 and the National Science Foundation DMR-0723032 (aberration-corrected TEM instrument). We would like to thank D. Fong and J. Karapetrova and the APS for synchrotron experiments. S.L and C.B.E. would like to thank S. Patnaik for helpful discussions. X.Q.P. would like to thank M. Kawasaki for the use of the aberration-corrected TEM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

    S. Lee, C. M. Folkman & C. B. Eom

  2. Applied Superconductivity Center, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, 2031 East Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, USA

    C. Tarantini, J. Jiang, J. D. Weiss, F. Kametani, E. E. Hellstrom & D. C. Larbalestier

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA

    P. Gao, Y. Zhang & X. Q. Pan

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  1. S. Lee
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Contributions

S.L. fabricated Ba-122 superlattices, analysed epitaxial arrangement by XRD and prepared the manuscript. C.T. carried out electromagnetic characterization and prepared the manuscript. P.G., F.K. and Y.Z. carried out TEM measurements. J.D.W. fabricated Ba-122 pulsed laser deposition targets for thin-film deposition. J.J. carried out electromagnetic characterizations. C.B.E., D.C.L., E.E.H. and X.Q.P. supervised the experiments and contributed to manuscript preparation. C.B.E. conceived and directed the research. All authors discussed the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages.

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Correspondence to C. B. Eom.

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Lee, S., Tarantini, C., Gao, P. et al. Artificially engineered superlattices of pnictide superconductors. Nature Mater 12, 392–396 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3575

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