Tuning vortex fluctuations and the resistive transition in superconducting films with a thin overlayer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that adding a thin overlayer to superconducting films can nonmonotonically increase the resistive transition temperature by suppressing vortex fluctuations, with implications for optimizing superconductor performance.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework showing how a thin overlayer can enhance the resistive transition temperature by balancing phase fluctuations and proximity effects.

Findings

Nonmonotonic dependence of $T_r$ on overlayer thickness observed.

Theoretical calculations match experimental data on various coated films.

Optimization of $T_r$ can be achieved by tuning overlayer parameters.

Abstract

It is shown that the temperature of the resistive transition $T_r$ of a superconducting film can be increased by a thin superconducting or normal overlayer. For instance, deposition of a highly conductive thin overlayer onto a dirty superconducting film can give rise to an "anti-proximity effect" which manifests itself in an initial increase of $T_r(d_2)$ with the overlayer thickness $d_2$ followed by a decrease of $T_r(d_2)$ at larger $d_2$. Such a nonmonotonic thickness dependence of $T_r(d_2)$ results from the interplay of the increase of a net superfluid density mitigating phase fluctuations and the suppression of the critical temperature $T_c$ due to the conventional proximity effect. This behavior of $T_r(d_2)$ is obtained by solving the Usadel equations to calculate the temperature of the Berezinskii-Kosterletz-Thouless transition, and the temperature of the resistive transition due to thermally-activated hopping of single vortices in dirty bilayers. The theory incorporates relevant materials parameters such as thicknesses and conductivities of the layers, interface contact resistance between them and the subgap quasiparticle states which affect both phase fluctuations and the proximity effect suppression of $T_c$. The transition temperature $T_r$ can be optimized by tuning the overlayer parameters, which can significantly weaken vortex fluctuations and nearly restore the mean-field critical temperature. The calculated behavior of $T_r(d_2)$ may explain the nonmonotonic dependence of $T_r(d_2)$ observed on (Ag, Au, Mg, Zn)-coated Bi films, Ag-coated Ga and Pb films or NbN and NbTiN films on AlN buffer layers. These results suggest that bilayers can be used as model systems for systematic investigations of optimization of fluctuations in superconductors.