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The introduction of artificial pinning sites in YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) epitaxial thin films has been obtained by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique from YBCO-BaZrO3 (BZO) composite targets with BZO concentration ranging from 2.5 to 7 mol %. The typical critical temperature, Tc, drop observed in YBCO-secondary phase films grown by PLD has been successfully recovered by increasing the deposition temperature. Transport properties analyses revealed improved pinning force values for YBCO-BZO films for BZO concentration above 5 mol %. These films exhibited an anomalous dual peak structure which has been ascribed to the presence of two pinning contributions. The crossover field, Bm, separating these two pinning regimes has been observed to be temperature independent suggesting the occurrence of the matching field effect. The measured value of Bm agreed with the matching field value, B[uppercase_phi_synonym]=Knd[uppercase_phi_synonym]0, as evaluated from transmission electron microscopy investigations. The mark of this phenomenon is retained down to 10 K, making YBCO-BZO more performing than pristine YBCO films at applied magnetic fields below Bm in all the temperature range inspected. On the contrary, in the high magnetic field range (above Bm), the effectiveness of correlated pinning is progressively reduced on lowering the temperature suggesting that at low temperatures the dominant pinning contribution arises from isotropic pinning centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the vortex pinning determined by artificially introduced pinning centers in the small-vortex displacement regime, we measured the microwave surface impedance at 47.7 GHz in the mixed state of YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films, where submicrometric BaZrO3 particles have been incorporated. As a function of the BaZrO3 content, we observed that the absolute losses slightly decrease up to a BaZrO3 content of 5%, and then increase. We found that the magnetic-field-induced losses behave differently in that they are not monotonic with increasing BaZrO3 concentration. At small concentration (2.5%) the field-induced losses increase, but large reduction in the losses themselves, by factors up to 3, is observed upon further increasing the BaZrO3 concentration in the target up to 7%. Using measurements of both surface resistance and surface reactance, we estimate vortex pinning-related parameters. We found that BaZrO3 inclusions introduce deep and steep pinning wells. In particular, the minimum height of the energy barrier for single vortices is raised. At larger BaZrO3 content (5% and 7%) the phenomenon is at its maximum, but it is unclear whether it shows a saturation or not, leaving room for further improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of the pulsed laser deposition technique for the generation of artificial pinning sites in the different Y[Ba.sub.2][Cu.sub.3][O.sub.7-[delta]] films with BaZr[O.sub.3] inclusions is demonstrated. The films with BZO concentration above 5 mol% are shown to exhibit enhanced pinning force values.

The vortex pinning determined by artificially introduced pinning centers in the small-vortex displacement regime is studied by measuring the microwave surface impedance in the mixed state of Y[Ba.sub.2][Cu.sub.3][O.sub.7-[delta]] thin films, where submicrometric BaZr[O.sub.3] particles are incorporated. The studies have shown that vortices are pinned by individual pinning centers and BZO particles are very effective pinning centers for high-frequency applications in a magnetic field.