This communication aims at reporting the superconducting properties of several bulk melt- processed DyBa2Cu3O7−x samples determined by using various measuring techniques. The original single domain material was first cut into 9 similar cubic samples which have been characterized by AC susceptibility, flux profiles and DC magnetization. The results indicate good quality melt- processed (RE)BCO materials with Tc ≈ 89 K. Next, the effect of post oxygen annealing treatments on these samples was studied. The influence of the non-uniformity of the oxygen content on the magnetic property anisotropy is discussed. Finally, additional magnetic measurements were carried out by using a couple of parallel pick-up coils wound on the same sample. From the results we conclude that geometric effects have to be taken into account in order to extract the critical current density from the magnetic properties.

The effect of YBCO film characteristics on the RF properties of microstrip-line (MSL) resonators using two surface resistance Rs value types of films was investigated in terms of weak links. The films were characterized in both cystallinity and microstructure. The RF properties of the resonators were measured at frequencies of about 2 GHz. It was understood that the film samples with higher Rs at 70 K, which exhibited strong c-axis orientation, both the 90 and 45- degree angle grains in plane of the films, Y211 segregation, and porous structures show large influence on RF magnetic field dependence of normalized resonant frequency-shift Δfc/fc, compared with the lower Rs type. On the other hand, the films with lower Rs at 70 K had much stronger c-axis orientation, the 90-degree angle grains, and dense structures. Consequently, it was considered that the lower Rs type films possessed fewer weak-links compared with the higher Rs type films, suggesting that the misorientation in the higher Rs films result in weak-links.

Metal organic deposition (MOD) process using metal trifluoroacetate (TFA) precursors was applied to the Nd1+XBa2−XCu3Oy (Nd123) and the Tc dependence on experimental conditions such as the oxygen partial pressure (PO2) and the substrate temperature (Ts) for annealing was investigated. Thin films grown on SrTiO3 substrates at Ts = 800°C under PO2 = 300 ppm showed a Tc value of 89 K. However, from the results of TEM-EDS measurements, the substitution values of x in the Nd123 films increased from the substrate toward the surface in the film. These experimental results could be thermodynamically explained by the following model. The basic idea of the model is that the Ba potential in the precursor decreases by coarsening of BaF2 particles during the annealing for the Nd123 crystal growth. This model predicts that the small substitution value can be obtained with a higher growth rate of the Nd123 phase under low PO2.

YBCO films on LaAlO3and IBAD (YSZ/Hastelloy) substrate were made by TFA-MOD (metalorganic deposition using trifluoroacetate) process. Improved coating solution resulted in high Jc at 77.3K and 0T of 7 MA/cm2 and 1.7 MA/cm2 for LaAlO3 and IBAD substrates, respectively. The magnetic field dependence of Jc at 77.3K also showed superior property: 105 A/cm2 at 4T (B//c-axis) for the LaAlO3substrate and at 3T (B//c-axis)) for IBAD substrate. Furthermore, the difference in Jc between single crystal LaAlO3and IBAD was small up to 3T. The present results imply that TFA-MOD process is promising for the practical YBCO coated conductor process.

YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films have been deposited by photo-assisted MOCVD at rates of greater than 0.3μm/min on both single crystal oxide substrates and atomically textured metallic substrates. The YBCO films of thickness from 0.5μm to 3μm deposited on LaAlO3 substrates are shown to be highly atomically ordered with Jc> 1 × 106 A/cm2. CeO2 buffer layers have also been developed by photo-assisted MOCVD for the integration of YBCO with metallic substrates. The CeO2 layers were found to be crack-free when grown on nickel even above 1 micron thickness, and exhibited crystal orientation and in-plane alignment similar to that of the atomically textured Ni substrates. YBCO films grown on the thick CeO2 buffer layers on nickel substrates have shown promising results with Jc∼6 × 105 A/cm2.

The recent achievements of critical current densities in excess of 1MA/cm2 at 77K in YBCO films deposited over appropriate bi-axially textured buffer layers/metal substrates have stimulated interest in the potential future applications of coated conductors at liquid nitrogen temperature and high magnetic fields, which are called as the next/second generation tape conductors. Several different processes for obtaining the bi-axially textured buffer layers/metal substrates as well as thicker film deposition processes and non-vacuum processes are reviewed. This paper reviews the research goals of the project including the recent development of the related research by individual research group in Japan.

For the first time the (001)-oriented Sr-based (Hg,Pb)-1223 films have been synthesized using the two-step procedure. Hg-free precursor films with the thickness of 1 μm have been deposited by MOCVD or PLD and then the films were annealed in sealed quartz ampoules together with synthesised (Hg,Pb)-1223 ceramics or a pressed precursor mixture of the same cation composition. No post-annealing in oxygen was used for these films. The phase composition of the PLD-films depended crucially on the deposition temperature of the precursor films. The best MOCVD films contained predominantly (Hg,Pb)-1223 and small amounts of non-superconducting phases according to XRD. The Tc=118 K and jc(77K,0.01T) = 2.5×106 A/cm2were measured for the MOCVD-samples.

We studied the transition of 8 nm-thick YBCO films deposited with and without YBaCuNbO buffer from the superconducting to resistive state due to the temperature or transport current increase. For both film types, the current –voltage characteristics and resistive transition followed the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition model. The superfluid densities were found from the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature TKT to be about 3% and 1.3% of the total carrier density in YBCO with and without buffer, respectively. We believe that the low superfluid densities indicate the presence of weak links in the film.

Grain boundaries is believed to act as weak-links limiting the critical current density (Jc) of bulk high-Tcsuperconductors. The weak-link problem can be greatly reduced by elimination or minimization of the large-angle grain boundaries. It has been reported that the Jc distribution in the transverse cross-section of (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+x (Bi2223) superconductor tapes follows a parabolic relationship, with the lowest currents occurring at the center of the tapes. The Jc distribution is proposed to be strongly dependent on the local crystallographic orientation distribution of the Bi2223 oxides. However, the local three dimensional crystallographic orientation distribution of Bi2223 crystals in (Bi,Pb)2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+×superconductor tapes has not been experimentally determined yet. In this work, Electron Backscattered Diffraction technique was employed to map the crystallographic orientation of the crystals in Bi2223 superconductor tapes. From this, the misorientation of grain boundaries and also their distribution are obtained. Through crystallographic orientation mapping, the relationship of the crystallographic orientation distribution, the boundary misorientation distribution and the fabrication parameters may be understood. This can be used to optimize the fabrication processes thus increasing the critical current density in Bi2223 superconductor tapes.

Growth of YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) crystals both on the MgO and the YBCO substrates has been investigated in order to clarify the growth mechanism of the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) process for the coated conductor. It was found that the slope angle of the growth grain varied with growing in the initial stage of the LPE growth. In the case of the MgO substrate, the slope angle increased with laterally growing the crystal. On the other hand, the slope angle decreased with growing the crystal in the case of the YBCO substrate. This phenomenon with the opposite tendency could be explained by considering the difference in the step-advancing rates between on the MgO and the YBCO surfaces. It was found that the deep and steep valley of the LPE grains due to the slow step-advancing rate on the MgO is the origin of the flux trapping inclusions. It is necessary that the seed films should cover the entire MgO surface without undesired orientation grains and impurity particles in order to obtain the high quality LPE layer.

In this paper, the feasibility of applying solution deposition processes for the fabrication of coated conductors has been explored. The crystal and chemical compatibility of the buffer layers processed using metalorganic decomposition with the Y123 deposition using the trifluoroacetate process has been studied. Two buffer layer materials have been used, namely, barium zirconate and strontium titanate. The measured superconducting properties of these conductors were correlated with the microstructure observed on these samples using SEM and cross-sectional TEM. In case of barium zirconate buffer layers, though there exists a very good structural and chemical compatibility between the buffer layer and the Y123, the presence of surface defects in the buffer layer causes compositional heterogeneity and randomly oriented grains in the Y123 film. This leads to poor superconducting properties. In case of strontium titanate buffer layers, due to the excellent crystal and chemical compatibility, and the absence of surface defects, high critical current densities (of the order of 106A/cm2 at 77K and self field) were obtained. However, TEM cross section studies reveals the presence of a significant portions of a-oriented Y123 crystallites which could lead to lower critical current densities. Further studies of the TFA process is required to eliminate the occurrence of a-oriented Y123 in the microstructure. This could lead to further improvements in the properties.

YBa2Cu3Ox (YBCO) thin films were fabricated by the trifluoroacetate (TFA) process on LaAlO3 (LAO) single crystal in an argon atmosphere. We focused on lowering the heat treatment temperature by decreasing the oxygen partial pressure to adopt the TFA process to metallic substrates. YBCO phase formation was checked by measuring Tc with the inductive method. In-plane and out-of-plane film textures were evaluated by phi-scan and omega scan, respectively. Raman spectroscopy was used to estimate grain connectivity, in-plane texture, and second-phase formation of the films. Although Raman spectroscopy revealed some evidence of cation disorder, the film prepared at 750°C shows a sharp superconducting transition at 91 K and critical current density of 1.3 MA/cm2 at 77 K. Optimal heat treatment temperature was 750°C in the argon atmosphere, which is consistent with the thermodynamic estimate that heat treatment temperature decreases as oxygen partial pressure decreases.

To avoid grain boundary grooving and abnormal grain growth during recrystallization of nickel and Ni alloy substrate tapes, the commonly used high recrystallization temperatures must be lowered.

The development of the cube orientation is a nucleation-growth process. So the kinetics of the cube recristallization is strongly temperature dependent, and there is a very marked effect of the stacking fault energy (SFE) of the specific alloy on the activation energy. Concurrently with measurements of the formation kinetics of the cube orientation, the recrystallization texture of Ni (+99,99 wt.%), NiCr10 wt.% and NiMn10 wt.% tapes in dependence on the deformation history, the annealing temperature and time was investigated. Profile rolling to a rectangular rod, without further high temperature annealing, leads to a worse cube texture compared to round swaged rods with an in-plane 200 peak splitting. The increase of the recrystallization temperature and time sharpens the texture due to grain growth, limited by the occurrence of secondary recrystallization when a sample specific temperature is exceeded.

In binary Ni alloys the commonly used alloying elements reduce the SFE. This favors the formation of recrystallization twins {122}<212> obstructing the oriented coating. In Mn alloyed tapes this effect is strongly pronounced. The tapes show a good cube texture, but also a high volume fraction of twins due to the low SFE. To suppress the twin formation we investigated ternary Ni based alloys with respect to possibly increased SFE and report first results.

Effects of electron irradiations in combination with 60Co gamma-quanta on magnetic properties of YBa2Cu3O7−x crystals have been studied to determine the contribution from oxygen defects to the pinning, and the condition of improving the critical parameter, Jc, of the crystals. Irradiation with 300 keV electrons followed by gamma-irradiation makes strong oxygen disorder, causing degradation of SC-transition and appearance of diamagnetic transition at 200 K, but no flux pinning in H>1 Tesla at 77 K. However, it is shown that oxygen defects do contribute substantially to the flux pinning at cation-anion defect clusters in CuO-planes created by moderate fluences of 1 MeV-electrons. A model is suggested for different oxygen and copper defects induced by the irradiations.

We attempted to grow single crystals of Bi2Sr2CaCu2Ox (Bi-2212) by Traveling Solvent Zone Melting (TSZM) technique using a gold crucible to stabilize the molten zone as well as to control the composition of Bi-2212 single crystals. As the results of crystal growth, chemical composition of the grown crystals was determined to be Bi: Sr: Ca: Cu = 1.97(4): 1.75(7): 0.88(3): 2.0, which was close to that of feeds. TSZM growth may be effective on the control of composition of Bi-2212 crystals. Superconducting properties of the grown crystal of Bi-2212 were TcTconset=85 K andΔTc=10 K.

We have developed a magnetic imaging system that uses magnetoresistive read heads from computer hard disk drives to map the transport-current-induced magnetic field at the surface of superconducting tapes at liquid nitrogen temperature. Transport current pathways are determined from the 2-dimensional magnetic field maps using established inversion schemes. We examined the current flow in pulsed-laser-deposited YBa2Cu3O7-σ films patterned on single crystal SrTiO3 substrates and on a textured yttria-stabilized-zirconia layer deposited on an Inconel ribbon by ion beam assisted deposition. The transport current densities in all cases were consistent with the Critical State Model. For the Inconel-based sample, the transport current density maps have allowed us to observe defects and determine the region that limits the current carrying capacity of the structure.

The sealed quartz tube method is one of the usual methods used for sintering mercury-based copper oxide superconductors. By this method, precursor pellets are inserted into the quartz tube together with certain mass ratio to the reagent sample pellets for controlling the mercury vapour pressure. A certain amount of excess HgO is required to ensure the fabricated sample to have the desired composition. In our research, it was found that if a small amount of TeO2 is added and mixed with the pulverized precursor after first calcination, Hg-1223 superconductors can be fabricated without using the precursor pellet and no excess HgO is required. Thus, the fabrication process can be simplified. As mercury and its oxide are toxic, if no excess Hg is involved, it is safe and good for the laboratory-environment. In this research, some amounts of 0.10 and 0.18 wt% (weigh percentage) of TeO2 were added into the precursor, it is shown that the critical temperature of the fabricated samples is comparable to that of the undoped Hg-1223 samples. For 0.10 wt% of TeO2, the Tc of the as-synthesized sample is about 116.7 K whereas the annealed Te-doped Hg-1223 is about 134.2 K. For 0.18 wt% of TeO2, the Tc of the as- synthesized and annealed samples are 115.8 K and 134.6 K, respectively. The phase structure of samples fabricated in this research has been analyzed by the X-ray diffraction technique. It shows that the Hg-1223 phase is dominated.

MgO thin films were deposited on amorphous substrates using ion-beam assisted pulsed laser deposition. The texture formation was investigated in-situ with RHEED. The microstructure of the films was observed by AFM. Using an ion beam at an angle of 55° with respect to the substrate normal, strong nucleation textures develop. Above 250°C a cube texture is observed in films thinner than 10 nm. During further growth this nucleation texture changes in a way that the <200> direction becomes parallel to the ion beam. This change can be explained by the anisotropic sputter rate of MgO found in sputter experiments on single crystals. Moreover, MgO films were deposited homoepitaxially on MgO single crystals above 250°C with internal stresses dreasing with increasing deposition temperature. This result gives rise to hope that homoepitaxial growth of MgO on the nucleation layer without ion-beam assistance should be possible in future PLD-experiments keeping the desired cube texture in thicker films.

The a- and b-axis resistivities and the a-axis magnetoresistivities applying magnetic field (B) along all three crystallographic axes in non-superconductive PrBa2Cu4O8 single crystals have been measured using four-probe method. Resistivitiy along the b-axis (parallel to double-chains) showed a highly conductive behavior, of which the origin is attributed to the double-chains because of a large anisotropic conduction between a- and b-axis directions. However, a metallic behavior along the a-axis was also observed in temperature region below 130 K, which could be understood in terms of presence of finite and coherent inter-chain interaction along the a-axis direction. This conclusion is derived from good agreement with values of mean-free path length in the double chain, lchain estimated from both the ρb-T curve and the a-axis MR applying B//c using quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) band model.

We fabricated a mini-superconducting bulk magnet of 200 mm × 100 mm, consisting of 18 square bulks, 33 mm on a side and 10 mm in thickness, and magnetized the mini-magnet by field cooling. The mini-magnet showed the trapped magnetic field of larger than 0.1 T on the surface of the outer vessel of the magnet. The present preliminary study discusses the possibility of superconducting bulk magnets for the Maglev system, and trapped magnetic field properties of the mini-bulkmagnet using YBaCuO superconductors at 77K.