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The electric transport properties of a GdBa2Cu3O 7 − δ thin film containing 12 mol% nano-sized BaHfO3 (BHO) particles grown by chemical solution deposition were investigated in a wide range of temperatures (4.2 ≤T ≤ 77 K) and magnetic fields up to μ 0 H = 19 T. The exponent n of the electric field–current density characteristics ( E ∝ J n ) depends on critical current density J c as (n–1) ∝ J c α (α ∼ 0.45) irrespective of measurement temperature for H ∥ c. On the other hand, this relation does not hold for H ∥ ab. The angular dependence of J c is almost similar to that of n except for the angle close to the ab-plane. A dip of n around this angle regime was observed below 77 K, whereas J c exhibited a maximum. At T ≤ 50 K a tiny peak in the dip was observed that increases with decreasing temperatures. These results suggest that the pinning mechanism changes with temperature for H ∥ ab.

Thin films of Co-doped BaFe2As2 of similar thickness (~40 nm) were grown with different growth rates (0.4 Å s−1 and 0.9 Å s−1) by pulsed laser deposition on CaF2(001) substrates. Analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was applied to analyze the microstructure and secondary phases. The formation of BaF2 and a high concentration of planar defects (mainly stacking faults) are observed for the sample grown at a low rate. A higher growth rate results in high-quality epitaxial films with only few antiphase boundaries. A higher T c was measured for the sample grown at a low growth rate, which is attributed to the difference in strain state induced by the high concentration of defects. Large crystalline Fe precipitates are observed in both samples. Chemical analysis shows a pronounced O and slight F content at the planar defects which highlights the role of O in defect formation. Electron-beam-induced irradiation damage during TEM measurements is observed and discussed.

REBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7}$−x (REBCO, RE = rare earth) compounds with different single RE elements were grown via TFA-MOD (metal-organic deposition of trifluoroacetates) to clarify their T$_{c}$ values when grown by the same preparation method and their processing windows; here: the crystallisation temperatures at a constant process gas composition (pO$_{2}$, pH$_{2}$O). We focussed on the lanthanides (Ln) Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er and Yb as substituents for Y in the REBCO phase and investigated their growth behaviour in terms of resulting physical (inductive T$_{c}$ and J$_{c}$(77 K)) and structural properties (determined by XRD, SEM, TEM). All phases were grown as pristine films on LaAlO$_{3}$ and SrTiOx$_{3}$ and compared to their respective nanocomposites with 12 mol% BaHfO$_{3}$ for in-field pinning enhancement. With regard to T$_{c}$ and J$_{c}$(77 K), the optima of both values shift towards higher growth temperatures for increasing and decreasing RE ion size with respect to yttrium. Highest T$_{c}$ values achieved so far do not show a trend that can solely be related to the RE ionic size. On the contrary, T$_{c,90}$ values of the LnBCO compounds from Sm to Er range between 94.0 and 95.3 K and are, therefore, significantly larger than the highest values of the average-size non-lanthanide, Y, with T$_{c,90}$ = 91.5 K. J$_{c,sf}$ values at 77 K seem to plateau between 5 and 6 MA cm$^{-2}$ from Sm to Er and are again clearly above the maximum values we ever achieved for Y with 4.2 MA cm$^{-2}$. REBCO phase formations of the very small Yb and large Nd turned out to be more difficult and require further adjustment of growth parameters. All REBCO phases investigated here show distinct dependences of T$_{c}$ on the lattice parameter c.

The electrical transport properties of (Li,Fe)OHFeSe films have been investigated in detail. The sharply textured films, prepared by matrix-assisted hydrothermal epitaxy (MHE) on LaAlO3, show a zero-resistance critical temperature T c of ∼42 K, J c values well above 1 MA cm−2 at low temperatures, and a maximum pinning force density F P of ∼100 GN m−3 at 4 K. The activation energy U 0 for thermal depinning of flux lines has been resolved for low magnetic fields, it agrees well with literature data. The coherence lengths and penetration depth were estimated via upper critical field B c2 and self-field J c, respectively, to be ξ ab ∼ 2.7 nm, ξ c = 0.24 nm, and λ ab ∼ 160–200 nm. The layered crystal structure leads to highly anisotropic and two-dimensional electrical properties, including trapping and lock-in of vortices.