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Title: Huge critical current density and tailored superconducting anisotropy in SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 by low-density columnar-defect incorporation

Abstract

Iron-based superconductors could be useful for electricity distribution and superconducting magnet applications because of their relatively high critical current densities and upper critical fields. SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 is of particular interest as it has the highest transition temperature among these materials. Here we show that by introducing a low density of correlated nano-scale defects into this material by heavy-ion irradiation, we can increase its critical current density to up to 2 × 107 A cm-2 at 5 K—the highest ever reported for an iron-based superconductor—without reducing its critical temperature of 50 K. We also observe a notable reduction in the thermodynamic superconducting anisotropy, from 8 to 4 upon irradiation. We develop a model based on anisotropic electron scattering that predicts that the superconducting anisotropy can be tailored via correlated defects in semimetallic, fully gapped type II superconductors.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Emergent Superconductivity (CES)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1385457
DOE Contract Number:  
AC02-98CH10886
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 4; Related Information: CES partners with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Argonne National Laboratory; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; phonons, thermal conductivity, energy storage (including batteries and capacitors), superconductivity, defects, spin dynamics

Citation Formats

Fang, L., Jia, Y., Mishra, V., Chaparro, C., Vlasko-Vlasov, V. K., Koshelev, A. E., Welp, U., Crabtree, G. W., Zhu, S., Zhigadlo, N. D., Katrych, S., Karpinski, J., and Kwok, W. K. Huge critical current density and tailored superconducting anisotropy in SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 by low-density columnar-defect incorporation. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1038/ncomms3655.
Fang, L., Jia, Y., Mishra, V., Chaparro, C., Vlasko-Vlasov, V. K., Koshelev, A. E., Welp, U., Crabtree, G. W., Zhu, S., Zhigadlo, N. D., Katrych, S., Karpinski, J., & Kwok, W. K. Huge critical current density and tailored superconducting anisotropy in SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 by low-density columnar-defect incorporation. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3655
Fang, L., Jia, Y., Mishra, V., Chaparro, C., Vlasko-Vlasov, V. K., Koshelev, A. E., Welp, U., Crabtree, G. W., Zhu, S., Zhigadlo, N. D., Katrych, S., Karpinski, J., and Kwok, W. K. 2013. "Huge critical current density and tailored superconducting anisotropy in SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 by low-density columnar-defect incorporation". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3655.
@article{osti_1385457,
title = {Huge critical current density and tailored superconducting anisotropy in SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 by low-density columnar-defect incorporation},
author = {Fang, L. and Jia, Y. and Mishra, V. and Chaparro, C. and Vlasko-Vlasov, V. K. and Koshelev, A. E. and Welp, U. and Crabtree, G. W. and Zhu, S. and Zhigadlo, N. D. and Katrych, S. and Karpinski, J. and Kwok, W. K.},
abstractNote = {Iron-based superconductors could be useful for electricity distribution and superconducting magnet applications because of their relatively high critical current densities and upper critical fields. SmFeAsO0.8F0.15 is of particular interest as it has the highest transition temperature among these materials. Here we show that by introducing a low density of correlated nano-scale defects into this material by heavy-ion irradiation, we can increase its critical current density to up to 2 × 107 A cm-2 at 5 K—the highest ever reported for an iron-based superconductor—without reducing its critical temperature of 50 K. We also observe a notable reduction in the thermodynamic superconducting anisotropy, from 8 to 4 upon irradiation. We develop a model based on anisotropic electron scattering that predicts that the superconducting anisotropy can be tailored via correlated defects in semimetallic, fully gapped type II superconductors.},
doi = {10.1038/ncomms3655},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1385457}, journal = {Nature Communications},
issn = {2041-1723},
number = ,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Nov 05 00:00:00 EST 2013},
month = {Tue Nov 05 00:00:00 EST 2013}
}

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