Enhancement of self-field critical current density by several-tens-MeV ion irradiation in YBa2Cu3O7 films prepared by fluorine-free metal-organic deposition

An up to 63% enhancement in critical current density (Jc) was achieved for 1 μm thick YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films at self-field at 77 K by irradiation with 24–84 MeV Au ions. This enhancement is highly unusual, since in YBCO films, Jc at self-field (Jcsf) is generally insensitive to ion irradiation, unlike Jc in magnetic fields. Our observed film-thickness dependence of the irradiation effect and our microstructure imaging indicate that this rare observation is attributed to an extremely “clean” (i.e. less-disordered) microstructure in the top 700 nm of the layer of our 1 μm thick films prepared via fluorine-free metal-organic deposition. Our results directly indicate that discontinuous 1D vortex-pinning centers (pins) that have the following features effectively enhance MA cm−2-order Jcsf at 77 K of YBCO films; namely, 5–10 nm in diameter, ∼20 nm in size along a pin track, have a ∼20 nm gap between the pins in a pin track, and are directed in the c-axis.