Photoinduced superconducting nanowires in GdBa2Cu3O6.5 films

Abstract

We report the fabrication of high-Tc superconducting wires by photodoping a GdBa2Cu3O6.5 thin film. An optical near-field probe was used to locally excite carriers in the system at room temperature. Trapping of the photogenerated electrons define a confining potential for the conducting holes in the CuO planes. Spatially resolved reflectance measurements show the photogenerated nanowires to be ∼250 nm wide. Electron diffusion, before electron capture, is believed to be responsible for the observed width of the wires.