Nanoparticle additions for enhanced flux pinning in YBCO HTS films

We describe a method for forming a nanoparticle dispersion in YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting films grown by metal-organic deposition on RABiTS substrates. Two separate precursor modifications have been shown by transmission electron microscopy to give nanoparticles of (Y, Dy)2O3 and BaZrO3 with size distributions of 10–50 nm and 10–25 nm, respectively and that are well dispersed in the film. These particles are effective flux pinning centers and enhance the transport critical current by up to 100% at 77 K for a magnetic field of 1.5 T applied perpendicular to the tape. The processing required to grow these films is not greatly altered from that of unmodified YBCO and can be readily transferred to continuous processing of long-length wires.