Atomic origin of the coexistence of high critical current density and high Tc in CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+δ superconductors
Source abstract
Abstract
Abstract For cuprate superconductors, a high critical transition temperature (Tc) can be realized in compounds containing multiple CuO2 layers in the unit cell, while a high critical current density (Jc) is rarely sustained above liquid nitrogen temperature. The CuBa2Ca3Cu4O10+δ (Cu-1234) superconductors synthesized under high oxygen pressure incredibly exhibit high Tc (~117 K) and high Jc (>104 A/cm2, 100 K) values. Here, the “double high” traits of Cu-1234 were investigated with advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy. It was revealed that ordering vacancies and plate-like 90° microdomains induced efficient microstructure pinning centers that suppressed vortex flux flow and enhanced Jc. Furthermore, metallic charge-reservoir blocks [Ba2CuO3+δ] were composed of unique compressed [CuO6] octahedra, which induced many holes with 2pz symmetry that significantly decreased the superconducting anisotropy and dramatically enhanced the interlayer coupling that guaranteed a high Jc. On the other hand, optimally doped CuO2 planes inside the thick superconducting blocks [Ca3Cu4O8] maintained a high Tc. Our results are applicable to design and synthesis of new superconductors with “double high” traits.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism · Superconductivity in MgB2 and Alloys · Iron-based superconductors research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (43)
Show source-provided references
1. Blatter, G., Feigel’man, M. V., Geshkenbein, V. B., Larkin, A. I. & Vinokur, V. M. Vortices in high-temperature superconductors. Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 1125–1388 (1994).10.1103/RevModPhys.66.1125 ↗
2. Bishop, D. J., Gammel, P. L., Huse, D. A. & Murray, C. A. Magnetic flux-line lattices and vortices in the copper oxide superconductors. Science 255, 165–172 (1992).10.1126/science.255.5041.165 ↗
3. Ricketts, J., Puzniak, R., Liu, C.-J., Gu, G. D., Koshizuka, N. & Yamauchi, H. Anisotropy and irreversibility line of iodine intercalated Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ single crystals. Appl. Phys. Lett. 65, 3284–3286 (1994).10.1063/1.112438 ↗
4. Chong, I. et al. High critical-current density in the heavily Pb-doped Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ superconductor: Generation of efficient pinning centers. Science 276, 770–773 (1997).10.1126/science.276.5313.770 ↗
5. Karppinen, M. & Yamauchi, H. Control of the charge inhomogeneity and high-Tc superconducting properties in homologous series of multi-layered copper oxides. Mat. Sci. Eng. R. Rep. 26, 51–96 (1999).10.1016/S0927-796X(99)00006-6 ↗
6. Patel, R. H., Nabialek, A. & Niewczas, M. Characterization of superconducting properties of BSCCO powder prepared by attrition milling. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 18, 317–324 (2005).10.1088/0953-2048/18/3/019 ↗
7. Clayton, N., Musolino, N., Giannini, E., Garnier, V. & Flükiger, R. Growth and superconducting properties of Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 single crystals. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 17, S563–S567 (2004).10.1088/0953-2048/17/9/020 ↗
8. Fujinami, K., Suematsu, H., Karppinen, M. & Yamauchi, H. Effect of overdoping on the irreversibility field and critical current density of the HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ superconductor. Physica C 307, 202–208 (1998).10.1016/S0921-4534(98)00516-4 ↗
9. Zheng, D. N., Campbell, A. M., Liu, R. S. & Edwards, P. P. Critical current, magnetic irreversibility line and relaxation in a single Tl-O layer 1223 superconductor. Cryogenics 33, 46–49 (1993).10.1016/0011-2275(93)90075-Y ↗
10. Choi, K.-Y. et al. High and uniform critical current density for large-size YBa2Cu3O7−δ single crystals. Curr. Appl. Phys. 11, 1020–1023 (2011).10.1016/j.cap.2011.01.016 ↗
11. Daeumling, M., Seuntjens, J. M. & Larbalestier, D. C. Oxygen-defect flux pinning, anomalous magnetization and intra-grain granularity in YBa2Cu3O7-δ. Nature 346, 332–335 (1990).10.1038/346332a0 ↗
12. Dou, S. X. et al. Enhancement of the critical current density and flux pinning of MgB2 superconductor by nanoparticle SiC doping. Appl. Phys. Lett. 81, 3419–3421 (2002).10.1063/1.1517398 ↗
13. Dolan, G. J., Chandrashekhar, G. V., Dinger, T. R., Feild, C. & Holtzberg, F. Vortex structure in YBa2Cu3O7 and evidence for intrinsic pinning. Phys. Rev. Lett. 62, 827–830 (1989).10.1103/PhysRevLett.62.827 ↗
14. Daeumling, M., Seuntjens, J. M. & Larbalestier, D. C. Oxygen-defect flux pinning, anomalous magnetization and intra-grain granularity in YBa2Cu307-δ. Nature 346, 332–335 (1990).10.1038/346332a0 ↗
15. Civale, L. Vortex pinning and creep in high-temperature superconductors with columnar defects. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 10, A11–A28 (1997).10.1088/0953-2048/10/7A/003 ↗
16. Deutscher, G. Impact of pseudo-gap states on the pinning energy and irreversibility field of high temperature superconductors. APL Mater. 2, 096108 (2014).10.1063/1.4894781 ↗
17. Shimoyama, J.-i Generic guiding law between irreversibility field and anisotropy-chemical control of critical current of high temperature superconductors. J. Low. Temp. Phys. 131, 1043–1052 (2003).10.1023/A:1023440824299 ↗
18. Jin, C. Q., Adachi, S., Wu, X. J., Yamauchi, H. & Tanaka, S. 117 K superconductivity in the Ba–Ca–Cu–O system. Physica C 223, 238–242 (1994).10.1016/0921-4534(94)91267-X ↗
19. Zhao, J., Li, W. & Jin, C. Composition simple and environmental friendly high temperature cuprate superconductors: Cu12(n−1)n. Sin.-Phys. Mech. Astron 48, 087405 (2018).10.1360/SSPMA2018-00197 ↗
20. Christen, D. K. & Thompson, R. Current problems at high Tc. Nature 364, 98–99 (1993).10.1038/364098a0 ↗
21. Iyo, A., Tokiwa, K., Terada, N., Tokumoto, M., Hirabayashi, M. & Ihara, H. Critical current density and irreversibility line of CuBa2Ca3Cu4Oy. Adv. Cryog. Eng. 42, 623–628 (1997).
22. Toby, B. H. EXPGUI, a graphical user interface for GSAS. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 34, 210–213 (2001).10.1107/S0021889801002242 ↗
23. Jin, C. Q., Qin, X. M., Shimizu, K., Nishiyama, M., Namiki, T. & Yu, Y. The enhanced superconductivity of Cu-1234 under high pressure. Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 19, 335–337 (2012).10.1142/S0217979205028530 ↗
24. Antipov, E. V. et al. The synthesis and characterization of the HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ and HgBa2Ca3Cu4O10+δ phases. Physica C 215, 1–10 (1993).10.1016/0921-4534(93)90358-W ↗
25. Ihara, H. et al. Crystal structure of a new high-Tc TlBa2Ca3Cu4O11 superconductor by high-resolution electron microscopy. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 38, 11952–11954 (1988).10.1103/PhysRevB.38.11952 ↗
26. Chen, C. T. et al. Out-of-plane orbital characters of intrinsic and doped holes in La2−xSrxCuO4. Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2543–2546 (1992).10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.2543 ↗
27. Tjeng, L. H., Chen, C. T. & Cheong, S. W. Comparative soft-X-ray resonant-photoemission study on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8, CuO, and Cu2O. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 45, 8205–8208 (1992).10.1103/PhysRevB.45.8205 ↗
28. Saini, N. L. et al. Polarized X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of the symmetry of unoccupied electronic states near the Fermi level in the Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 system. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 8, 2467–2477 (1996).
29. Nücker, N. et al. Site-specific and doping-dependent electronic structure of YBa2Cu3Ox probed by O 1s and Cu 2p X-ray-absorption spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 51, 8529–8542 (1995).10.1103/PhysRevB.51.8529 ↗
30. Li, W. M. et al. Superconductivity in a unique type of copper oxide. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 116, 12156–12160 (2019).10.1073/pnas.1900908116 ↗
31. Jin, C.-Q. et al. High-pressure synthesis and superconducting properties of the oxychloride superconductor(Sr, Ca)3Cu2O4+δCl2−y. Phys. Rev. B 61, 778–783 (2000).10.1103/PhysRevB.61.778 ↗
32. Deutscher, G. & de Gennes, P.-G. A spatial interpretation of emerging superconductivity in lightly doped cuprates. C. R. Phys. 8, 937–941 (2007).10.1016/j.crhy.2007.08.004 ↗
33. Song, D. et al. Visualization of dopant oxygen atoms in a Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ superconductor. Adv. Funct. Mater. 29, 1903843 (2019).10.1002/adfm.201903843 ↗
34. Hÿtch, M. J., Snoeck, E. & Kilaas, R. Quantitative measurement of displacement and strain fields from HREM micrographs. Ultramicroscopy 74, 131–146 (1998).10.1016/S0304-3991(98)00035-7 ↗
35. Kwok, W. K., Welp, U., Crabtree, G. W., Vandervoort, K. G., Hulscher, R. & Liu, J. Z. Direct observation of dissipative flux motion and pinning by twin boundaries in YBa2Cu3O7−δ single crystals. Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 966–969 (1990).10.1103/PhysRevLett.64.966 ↗
36. Liu, J. et al. Boosting superconducting properties of Fe(Se, Te) via dual-oscillation phenomena induced by fluorine doping. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 11, 18825–18832 (2019).10.1021/acsami.9b02469 ↗
37. Liu, J. et al. Synthesis of high-quality FeSe0.5Te0.5 polycrystal using an easy one-step technique. J. Alloy. Compd. 644, 523–527 (2015).10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.05.034 ↗
38. Fink, J., Nücker, N., Pellegrin, E., Romberg, H., Alexander, M. & Knupfer, M. Electron energy-loss and X-ray absorption spectroscopy of cuprate superconductors and related compounds. J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 66, 395–452 (1994).10.1016/0368-2048(93)01857-B ↗
39. Nücker, N., Romberg, H., Xi, X. X. & Fink, J. Symmetry of holes in high-Tc superconductors. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 39, 6619–6629 (1989).10.1103/PhysRevB.39.6619 ↗
40. Pellegrin, E. et al. Polarized X-ray-absorption study of Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 and Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10. Phys. Rev. B Condens. Matter 48, 10520–10523 (1993).10.1103/PhysRevB.48.10520 ↗
41. Brown, I. D. & Altermatt, D. Bond-valence parameters obtained from a systematic analysis of the inorganic crystal structure database. Acta Crystallogr., Sect. B: Struct. Sci. 41, 244–247 (1985).10.1107/S0108768185002063 ↗
42. Hilgenkamp, H. & Mannhart, J. Grain boundaries in high-Tc superconductors. Rev. Mod. Phys. 74, 485–549 (2002).10.1103/RevModPhys.74.485 ↗
43. Stöhr, J. NEXAFS spectroscopy. Springe. Ser. Surf. Sci. 25, 211–231 (1996).