Effects of structural microdomains on the vortex correlation length in a-axis oriented EuBa2Cu3O7 thin films

Abstract

We have grown a-axis oriented EuBa2Cu3O7 thin films on SrTiO3 (001) substrates using a magnetron sputtering technique. In these films the CuO2 planes are aligned parallel to the substrates. The film microstructure shows microdomains. The microdomains are grains with a 90° rotation of the c-axis. We have done transport measurements in applied magnetic fields up to 16 T. We have found a reduced quasi-2D dimensionality of the vortex glass transition probably resulting of vortex coherence being limited by disorder at domain boundaries. The activation energy for vortex motion in the liquid state displays a 1/H0.5 field dependence characteristic of strongly anisotropic superconductor.