Critical factor for epitaxial growth of cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 films by pulsed laser deposition

TL;DR

This study investigates how laser parameters influence the epitaxial growth quality of cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 films via pulsed laser deposition, revealing optimal conditions for high critical current density.

Contribution

It demonstrates that optimal pulse energy, rather than wavelength, determines film quality and superconducting performance in pulsed laser deposition of these films.

Findings

Optimal pulse energy is independent of laser wavelength.

High-quality films achieve critical current densities over 1 MA/cm2.

Crystallinity correlates with deposition rate controlled by pulse energy.

Abstract

We heteroepitaxially grew cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 films on (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3 single-crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition using four different wavelengths and investigated how the excitation wavelength and pulse energy affected growth. Using the tilting and twisting angles of X-ray diffraction rocking curves, we quantitatively analyzed the crystallinity of each film. We found that the optimal deposition rate, which could be tuned by pulse energy, was independent of laser wavelength. The high-quality film grown at the optimal pulse energy (i.e., the optimum deposition rate) exhibited high critical current density over 1 MA/cm2 irrespective of the laser wavelength.