Laser nanostructured metasurfaces in Nb superconducting thin films

Critical current density; Dendritic avalanches; Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures; Magnetic flux penetration; Dendritic avalanche; Dendritics; Femtosecond UV lasers; Flux penetration; Laser-induced periodic surface structures; Metasurface; Nano-structured; Thin-films; Condensed Matter Physics; Surfaces and Interfaces; Surfaces, Coatings and Films; General Physics and Astronomy; General Chemistry

Abstract :

[en] Superconducting Nb thin films have been nanostructured by means of a femtosecond UV laser. Laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) with lateral modulation of ≈250nm and depth smaller than amplitude (≲20nm from crest to trough) are obtained for optimized laser scanning conditions over the film surface, i.e. power, frequency, scanning speed and polarization. This provides a fast and scalable procedure of surface control at the nanoscale. In thin films, control over the kinetics of the LIPSS formation process has been crucial. Untreated and laser-patterned samples have been characterized by electron and atomic force microscopy as well as by local and global magnetometry. The superconducting properties reveal anisotropic behavior in accordance with the observed topography. The imprinted LIPSS define channels for anisotropic current flow and flux penetration. At low temperatures, magnetic flux avalanches are promoted by the increased critical current density, though flux tends to be channeled along the LIPSS. In general, directional flux penetration is observed, being a useful feature in fluxonic devices. Scalability allows us to pattern areas of the order of cm2/min.

Research Center/Unit :

Q-MAT - Quantum Materials - ULiège

Disciplines :

Physics

Author, co-author :

Badía-Majós, Antonio ; Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

Martínez, Elena ; Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

Angurel, Luis A.; Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

de la Fuente, Germán F. ; Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

Fourneau, Emile ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Complex and Entangled Systems from Atoms to Materials (CESAM)

Marinkovic, Stefan ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Complex and Entangled Systems from Atoms to Materials (CESAM)

Silhanek, Alejandro ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de physique > Physique expérimentale des matériaux nanostructurés

Language :

English

Title :

Laser nanostructured metasurfaces in Nb superconducting thin films

Publication date :

15 March 2024

Journal title :

Applied Surface Science

ISSN :

0169-4332

eISSN :

1873-5584

Publisher :

Elsevier B.V.

Volume :

649

Pages :

159164

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0169433223028441?httpAccept=text/xml

Funding text :

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Spanish MCIN/AEI / 10.13039/501100011033 (project PID2020- 113034RB-I00), Gobierno de Aragón, Spain (research group T54_23R ). The work of A.V. Silhanek and E. Fourneau has been financially supported by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Belgium under the grants Excellence of Science (EOS) project O.0028.22 and PDR T.0204.21. S. Marinković acknowledges support from FRS-FNRS (Research Fellowships ASP) . A. Badía-Majós wants to acknowledge partial financial support from the European Union under Hi-Scale COST action ( CA19108 ). The authors also would like to acknowledge the use of Servicio General de Apoyo a la Investigación-SAI and Laboratorio de Microscopías Avanzadas, Universidad de Zaragoza.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Spanish MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (project PID2020- 113034RB-I00), Gobierno de Aragón, Spain(research group T54_23R). The work of A.V. Silhanek and E. Fourneau has been financially supported by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS, Belgium under the grants Excellence of Science (EOS) project O.0028.22 and PDR T.0204.21. S. Marinković acknowledges support from FRS-FNRS (Research Fellowships ASP). A. Badía-Majós wants to acknowledge partial financial support from the European Union under Hi-Scale COST action (CA19108). The authors also would like to acknowledge the use of Servicio General de Apoyo a la Investigación-SAI and Laboratorio de Microscopías Avanzadas, Universidad de Zaragoza.

Available on ORBi :

since 20 March 2024

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