Magnetic (CoFe2O4)0.1(CeO2)0.9 nanocomposite as effective pinning centers in FeSe0.1Te0.9 thin films

Author: Huang Jijie   Chen Li   Jian Jie   Tyler Kevin   Li Leigang   Wang Han   Wang Haiyan  

Publisher: IOP Publishing

E-ISSN: 1361-648X|28|2|25702-25708

ISSN: 0953-8984

Source: Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol.28, Iss.2, 2016-01, pp. : 25702-25708

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Abstract

Magnetic epitaxial (CoFe2O4)0.1(CeO2)0.9 nanocomposite layers were incorporated into superconducting FeSe0.1Te0.9 thin films as either a cap layer or a buffer layer. Both capped and buffered samples show an enhancement of the superconducting property compared to the reference sample without the incorporated layer, while the capped one shows the best pinning properties of all the samples. Specifically for the capped sample, the critical temperature &${{T}_{text{c}}}$ ; is ~12.5 K, while the self-field critical current density &$J_{text{c}}^{text{sf}}$ ; increases to as high as 1.20 MA cm−2 at 4 K. Its &$J_{text{c}}^{text{in-field}}$ ; value shows a slower decrease with increasing applied magnetic field, with the lowest power-law exponent α values (derived following &${{J}_{text{c}}}propto {{left({{mu}_{0}}Hright)}^{-alpha}}$ ; by the &$log left({{J}_{text{c}}}right)-log left({{mu}_{0}}Hright)$ ; plot) of 0.20, 0.23 and 0.33 at 2 K, 4 K and 8 K, respectively. This nanocomposite capped sample also exhibits a high upper critical field &${{H}_{text{c}2}}(0)$ ; of 166 T, which indicates its potential in high field applications. This pinning method provides an effective way of enhancing the superconducting property of iron chalcogenide thin film.