Critical current anisotropy and flux pinning in YBCO(001) and YBCO(110) superconducting thin films prepared by KrF pulsed laser ablation

A systematic study concerning the manifestation of dominant pinning mechanisms in laser ablated yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) films was conducted. Experiments involved the measurement of the direct transport critical current density of high quality Y1Ba2Cu3O7 superconducting thin films. Results indicate that the behavior of the pinning in the mixed-state of YBCO films is dependent to the growth orientation of the film and to the applied field configuration.